The Abductions
by llamasrock192
Summary: Zoe McLachlan was with her brother when it happened. She watched in horror as he brother was kidnapped. Now she will do anything to get him back, even if that means risking her life to save his. As she journey's to find him she meets new people and finds herself falling into danger at every turn. But what will she find out about herself and the world she lives in on this journey?
1. Chapter 1

**Ok here is a summary about what this story's main theme is to me.**

**Basically it's about a girl who is small but can do more than people think. She is always called small and fragile but is capable of a lot. She hates being called weak and fragile and she knows that she is more than just that.**

**The reason I am telling you this is because many people are called weak and fragile and fat even when they aren't they hate it. That's the way it is with me. I know how it feels to be called out of shape and small and weak and I know I am non of those things. Even my family calls me those things sometimes and I absolutely hate it. I know I'm strong no matter if it's mentally or physically I am strong. I know I used to be out of shape (not meaning fat by the way just not physically fit) but I'm not anymore and people still make fun of me for it. So if you have the same problems as I do look into the way Zoe is treated and how she makes in known that she is stronger than everyone thinks. We are all strong no matter what people say or what we look like! Just think about that!**

**Chapter 1**

I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. I haven't been able to sleep for two days because I can't stop worrying. Three days ago my best friend went missing. I should have known, there have been disappearances of a lot of sixteen year olds in the last two years.

Molly was the nicest person I ever knew. She always knew how to put a smile on my face. She and Blake always know what to say to me when I am upset.

Blake is my twin brother. We look identical. We both have straight brown hair and narrow faces. The only things that are different are our height and eyes. I am small and still look like I'm twelve. Blake is tall and muscular. I have green-blue eyes that look grey from farther away. He has deep green eyes.

I know how to get my mind off of things when I am like this but my parents won't approve of me leaving in the middle of the night. Not with all of the disappearances that have been happening. But I will do anything but cry. I am not the kind of person that will cry for many things. I only cry if there is no other solution.

I get out of bed and walk down the hallway as quietly as possible. I go to the bathroom and put my long brown hair into my usual braid. I put on my boots and jacket and tuck my braid into my jacket. I go to the kitchen and grab an apple too. Then I head for the door. I am about to open the door when a door creaks open behind me.

"Zoe, what are you doing?" Blake asks.

"Blake, go back to bed," I reply careful to avoid his question.

"No, I want to know what you think you're doing going out in the middle of the night with all the kidnappings that have been happening."

"Nowhere. Ok? just leave me alone for a while."

"Zoe, we are both sixteen we could be taken any day now. You can't leave in the middle of the night. You could be taken."

"I can take care of myself, Blake; I'm sixteen for crying out loud."

"Yeah, but what are you going to do if they try to take you and you can't get away. You're too small to fight them off on your own," he says getting a little angry.

"I can take care of myself," I repeat a little frustrated. Everyone thinks that because I am small that I can't take care of myself.

"Well, seeing that I can't stop you I am coming with you."

"No, I want to be alone. Please, just go back to bed."

"Zoe, she was my friend too. Don't think that you are the only one who misses her," he says sounding a little hurt.

"Fine, you can come, but you have to promise not to tell mom and dad about this. Ok?" I say, trying to ignore the tightness in my throat.

He grabs his coat and tennis shoes and walks back to the door where I am waiting.

"So where are we going?" he asks with a smile on his face.

"You'll see when we get there," I say poking him in the chest.

"Oh come on Zoe, is it really that big of a secret?"

"Yes. Mom and dad would never approve so you have to keep it a secret."

"Fine."

We walk out the door and I head for the road. We both stay silent. We walk for about a mile until I see the giant oak tree and turn into the forest. We walk for about a half mile until we come across a small circle of no trees. On the edge of the circle is a fallen oak tree.

I whistle three times and listen for the footsteps. I hear them after about two minutes and I make out a large animal running towards us. Blake lets out a startled yell when he sees it.

I laugh and say, "Relax, it's just Lightning."

"Just what?" he says with wide eyes.

Right when he says that the animal runs into the circle. A large black horse with three white socks and a lightning bolt on his forehead. His name is Lightning, Molly and I found him as foul a couple of years ago and started taking care of him. Molly decided that we should name him Lightning, so now that is what we have been calling him.

"Lightning. Molly and I have been taking care of him for two years now," I reply.

"And you two didn't bother telling me about this. I could have helped take care of him, you know?"

"Hey, all three of us did everything together. Molly and I wanted something for just us girls to do."

"Ok, I guess I understand." Blake says with a disappointed look.

I walk over to Lightning and rub his neck. He nuzzles me, and I know exactly what he wants. I reach into my pocket and give him the apple that I put in my pocket before we left.

I walk Lightning over to the fallen tree and stand on it. Then I hoist myself on his back and pat his neck. He gives out a happy whinny and stomps his hoof on the ground ready to run.

"Sorry Lightning, we aren't going for a run today," I tell him.

He looks at me out of the corner of his eye and gives another whinny. I wonder if he misses Molly as much as I do. It has been really hard the last couple of days.

Lightning perks his ears up and gets tense all of the sudden. He must have heard something that we didn't. Then all of the sudden he rears up and I have to tighten my legs around him and rap my arms around his neck to keep from falling off.

When he does this people run into the opening and start to grab Blake. They pin him to the ground struggling against his strength. They try to grab me too but Lightning is keeping them from touching me. He kicks and rears at the people that come near us.

I let out a scream and watch as the people tie Blake's hands behind his back. He keeps struggling against them. They are having trouble keeping hold of him because he is so strong. Lighting keeps kicking and bucking and I am starting to have trouble staying on his back.

"Run!" Blake yells. "Zoe, run get out of here. Now!"

"I can't leave you!" I say as Lightning kicks another person who tries to grab me.

"You have to! Now go get out of here!"

I can't just leave him they will hurt him. He is my brother I don't know what I would do without him. But if I get captured there isn't a very good chance that either of us will be able to get away. So I have to leave but I will find him.

"I will find you! I promise!" I say almost choking on the words.

I give him one last pleading look and tell Lightning to run. He does as I tell him and we are finally out of there. I have tears in my eyes as we leave my brother behind.

* * *

**FIRST OFF: I KNOW THIS IS PROBABLY NOT WHAT YOU EXPECTED FOR BEING ON THE HUNGER GAMESFAN FIC PAGE! IT IS A STORY I CAME UP WITH ALL BY MYSELF. IT IS POSTED ON FICTION PRESS BUT NOBODY GOES ON THAT SITE SO I POSTED IT HERE HOPING PEOPLE WOULD READ THIS STORY!**

**I hope you all liked it. I would like to thank everyone who read this story and reviewed. I would like people to tell me what they think of the story so that I know that I should continue with it. Remember to read and review! **

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Thanks for continuing to read this story! It means a lot! Please let me know what you think in the reviews!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

I don't know how far or how long we run but it feels like forever. My muscles ache from being so tense and my face is wet with tears. Lightning stops and lets me get off of his back. He breaths heavily and sweat gleams off his back in the moonlight.

None of this feels real it all feels like just another bad dream. But it isn't a bad dream it is real and my brother is gone. I know what I have to do but that means leaving. It means leaving my parents and letting them think that I am gone forever when I can just go home and tell them what happened.

I look at Lightning through the darkness and he looks back. He must know that I am upset because he tries to nuzzle me. Not the way he does when he wants an apple but when he tries to comfort me. He did it the day I came to him crying about Molly getting abducted.

I have to wait a while before I go back to the spot where they took Blake. The people will be searching for me since I was there when they took Blake.

So I sit down and wait.

†

I go home hoping my parents are still asleep. They should be. It's three in the morning so the only reason for them to be up is if they heard Blake and me talking before we left.

I look in the window first to see if there are any lights on or any movement inside. I don't see anything so I go to the door and quietly open it. I go to my room and grab my backpack. I start to stuff clothes into it.

Then I go to the kitchen and grab some food. I grab some matches and some water bottles and fill them up with water. I already have money in my backpack. My parents think that I should have money for emergencies. I also grab a flashlight so I can see a little better in the dark.

My parents will think that my brother and I were both kidnapped. They won't know that Blake was the only one taken. That I watched as they pinned him to the ground to take him. That I will do anything to find him.

When I am done I go outside and take one last look at my family's small Sector 2 home. There are five sectors each serving a different purpose to our society.

Sector 1 provides us with intelligence and technology. They invent things and manufacture technology for everyone. Like the other Sectors they are crucial to our survival.

Sector 2 provides food and clothing to everyone. Sector 2 is my home. I have worked on a farm my entire life. Since my Sector provides the food we get the freshest produce.

Sector 3 provides shelter. They come to the other Sectors every six months to build new buildings for us. They also come to repair any buildings or homes that need repaired.

Sector 4 provides weapons for the war. It's not mentioned much but they also provide soldiers. They train them and prepare them to fight the war. I have heard people saying that Sector 4 is responsible for the kidnappings because they need more soldiers to fight in the war.

Sector 5 provides a strong government. They run all of the Sectors. They raise their children to become fearless leaders and strong speakers.

I don't want to leave it all behind but I have to if I am going to save my brother. He would do it for me. He has always been better at helping people and being kind. I find it difficult to do both of those things.

I walk over to Lightning and get on his back. He gives a sigh of complaint. I know he is tired but we have to get out of here. In a few hours my parents will realize that Blake and I are missing. They will search for us all day but by then we will both be long gone.

Lightning moves forward and I take him to the spot where they took Blake. The scene is still fresh in my mind and I have to bite my lip to keep from crying. Luckily there were enough people that they trampled the grass and I know what direction they went.

The tracks end at the road. That is going to be a problem. I can't tell which way the car went and I don't know where they are going. I let out a frustrated scream and kick some nearby pebbles.

Then I remember something that my neighbor said after his son was kidnapped.

"I am going to march into Sector 4 and take back my son even if it kills me," he said.

We never saw him again. So this will most likely be a suicide mission. But I have to try. He's my brother I can't just leave him. Even if it's not much it's something I can start with.

I get back on Lightning and we travel for a while until my back aches and my stomach hurts from hunger. We go into the forest and I find a good spot to camp out for the night.

I start a fire and heat up some of the canned soup that I brought with me. Then I grab my backpack and use it as a pillow. It doesn't take too long for me to fall asleep since I have been awake for over seventy two hours.

†

It has been two days since they took Blake. I am starting to run out of supplies and will have to find a town pretty soon to buy more food. Right now I can find things to eat in this place. I know a good deal about what plants are edible coming from Sector 2 so at least I will have some food.

I ride next to the road for what seems like hours before I hear a car come up behind me on the road. It's not long before they pass me. I watch as the car passes me.

It stops in front of me and two large men get out. They start walking toward me and I stop Lightning.

When they approach me I smell cigarette smoke and alcohol. Not good.

"Where are you going little girl," one of them says. He has shaggy dark hair and a beard.

"That is none of your concern," I tell him in a shaky voice.

"Oh, no need to get defensive we just want to know where you're going," the other man says. He has a buzz cut and his words slur together when he speaks.

"I said it's none of your concern. Now leave me alone," I say trying to sound brave but it comes out shaky and high pitched.

"Oh, are you scared of us little girl?" the one with the beard says his eyes searching me hungrily.

"Stop calling me little girl. I am not a little girl I am sixteen years old," I say, but I immediately wish I hadn't.

They give each other big smiles and pull me off Lightning's back. I scream hoping that someone will hear me but I know it's useless. There isn't another person for miles.

I keep screaming trying to get them off of me. I kick the one with the buzz cut in the face and blood runs out of his nose. Lightning rears and bucks and he kicks the one with the beard in the stomach. He falls over and gets back up like a horse didn't just kick him in the stomach.

"Take her back to the car. I have some rope we can tie her hands and feet with," the man with the beard says.

I keep screaming hoping that someone will hear me. One of the men puts his hand over my mouth to stop me from screaming and I bite down on his hand until I taste blood. I hear a scream and one of them hits me in the face. I see stars as they drag me to their car.

Lightning is trying to follow us but the men just keep yelling at him and trying to get him away.

We reach their car and the man with the buzz cut opens the trunk. They grab the rope that is in the trunk and tie my hands behind my back and they tie my feet together. One of them puts a piece of cloth in my mouth as a gag and I try not to think about where it has been. Then they put another piece of cloth over my eyes and all I see is black.

One of them puts his hands on my chest and I let out a muffled scream.

"Are you sure your sixteen little girl? You don't feel older than twelve," he lets out with a laugh.

Then I hear someone else's voice. Another man but he sounds younger and not at all happy.

"Hey," he yells. He's not very close, maybe by the trees on the side of the road. "Leave her alone."

"Sorry boy, that's not going to happen," one of my captors says.

They shove me in the trunk and I hear them both walk away. Then I hear some shuffling and a loud bang and a scream. Then I hear another loud bang and another scream.

Then someone lifts me out of the trunk and throws me on the ground. My head hits the pavement on the street and I feel a throbbing in my head.

I hear the car start and tires squeal as the car speeds off. I fight against my restraints but it's no use they tied the ropes too tight.

* * *

**Ok so I hope you like it! I know I'm not that great of a writer but bear with me. If you have any suggestions or tips for me to improve my writing feel free to share it with me in a review or PM.**

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

I hear someone walk up to me and they touch my ankles. I start to kick out trying to hit whatever I can. I hit something and I hear a small groan.

"Hey would you relax I am trying to untie you," a voice says.

I calm down a bit and let the person untie me. When they take off the blind fold I am face to face with a boy that looks about my age. He has deep blue eyes and short dark brown hair. He has a gun sitting on the ground next to him and a red mark on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asks in a soothing voice.

I nod my head and stand up. I rub my wrists where the ropes where.

"Why are you out here by yourself?' he asks.

I just stand there and stare at him not willing to answer his question.

"Ok, forget that question. My name is Cody Trulli," he says.

"Zoe McLachlan," I say back. Then I turn away and get back up on Lightning.

"Wait, where are you going?" Cody says.

"That is none of your concern," I reply, my voice still shaky from the attack.

I turn Lightning in the direction I want to go and he starts walking.

"So that's it, I don't get a thank you for saving you from those guys," he says as he walks next to Lightning.

"Thank you," I say sharply.

"Hey would you please stop and talk to me," he says.

I stop Lightning and get off his back.

"What is there to talk about I don't even know you," I say.

"I want to know where you're going," he says. "I think you owe me for saving you anyway."

"Fine. I'm going to Sector 4 to find my brother and my best friend they were kidnapped. Ok, I told you. Now good-bye," I walk back over to Lightning.

"You're not going to find them there. Sector 4 is not responsible for the kidnappings."

"Then who is? They are the most likely to do something like that."

I am getting very frustrated with this boy. How does he know where to find them. He's just a random boy that doesn't know what he's talking about.

"Just think," he continues. "Who's responsible for thousands of deaths in the Sectors? Who raged war on us just for our land?"

"So let me get this straight. You're telling me that The Dominion is responsible for my brother getting kidnapped? You must be delusional. How would they even get into the Sectors in the first place?"

"Well, my guess is—" he starts.

"Oh, so this is all just a guess? You _are_ delusional."

"It's not all a guess. The part about Sector 4 not responsible for the kidnapping is a fact. Same with the part about The Dominion being the ones to kidnap. I'm only guessing about how The Dominion has been getting into the Sectors."

"Ok, how do you believe they are getting in?"

"I believe the Sector 5 is letting them in because they know we can't win this war. So they are letting The Dominion take whatever they want and that happens to be the sixteen year olds. I don't know what they are using them for but it can't be good."

"How did you come up with all of this?" I ask

He gets a sad face and doesn't make eye contact when he answers, "My dad told me."

"Oh. But wait, why are you out here by yourself too?"

"A year ago they tried to take me. I got away and they have been trying to catch me ever since. But they can't because I am just that good," he says with a shrewd smile.

"Ok, so how am I supposed to get to The Dominion?" I say half to myself.

"I think I can help with that. If you mind if I tag along," he says.

"No. You are _definitely_ not coming with me," I say shaking my head.

"Oh come on I know how to get there and I know how to fight and I have money, food, and weapons."

"I'm sorry you _cannot_ come with me."

"Why? I can help you find your brother and friend. Plus you might need some company other than just a horse."

"Because you're…. You….. Uh fine. But if you do anything that I don't like I am leaving. You got that?"

"Yep. Now I need to go get my things and we will be on our way."

I walk next to him back to the trees. I study him as we walk. He's tall and I only reach his shoulder. He has a mischievous look to him, like he likes to pull pranks on unsuspecting people. His eyes are a piercing blue, almost mesmerizing.

"So I'm guessing your brother's sixteen being's he was kidnapped?" Cody asks.

"Yeah, we both are. We're twins," I reply. "What about you?"

"Seventeen."

"So did you shoot those guys?" I ask after a little pause.

"Yeah," he replies. "Got one in the arm, one in the foot. I figured that I shouldn't kill them. You'd probably think I was a serial killer or something if I did."

"No I wouldn't I would think that you were stupid. The way I see it God is the only one who should decide when to take a life."

"Ah, you're religious. Me too. But I guess I have never really thought of that. I'm from 4 so I kind of used to people getting killed."

We walk the rest of the way in silence. Then he comes to a sudden stop. He walks over to a fallen tree and reaches inside a hole that I hadn't noticed. He pulls a large backpack out of it and throws the backpack over his shoulder.

"Ok, ready when you are," he says.

I walk over to Lightning and get on his back.

"You ride?" I ask Cody.

"No, but I can always learn," he says smiling.

"Then hop on."

He gets on Lightning's back in front of me so I have to wrap my arms around him so that I can stay on.

"Just give Lightning a little poke with your heal and he will move. And to turn him just pat the side of his neck that you want him to go." I instruct him.

"Ok I think I got it," He says.

Then he moves Lightning forward and we are off.

* * *

**Tell me what you think in the reviews please! **

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

We stop as the sun starts to set and camp out about a half mile from the road. I unpack the food that I have left while Cody starts a fire.

"I hope you have more. This isn't going to last long," I tell Cody.

"Yeah, I got plenty," he replies as the fire starts.

He walks over to his bag and pulls out some food. He has enough to last us both at least two more days. I suddenly realize that I'm sort of happy I didn't leave him behind because I wouldn't have lasted much longer out here without him. He seems to know exactly what he is doing.

He grabs a can of soup and heats it up over the fire. When it is all heated he hands it to me and I give him a grateful smile.

"Thank you," I say. "For saving me back there. I guess I never really did give you a sincere thank you for that."

"No thanks necessary," he says. "Those guys deserved it. They can't just go around harassing all the pretty girls they come across."

At that my face gets hot and I know that it is completely red. I smile a little too and to hide it I look at the ground. No boy has ever called me pretty before.

"I'm sorry for not wanting you to come," I finally say. "It's just that I'm not really the kind of person to accept a strangers help. Especially after I almost got abducted by two strangers."

"It's fine. I understand because, you know, I am just so big and scary and mean. _Rarrrr_!" he says faking a lunge at me.

We both burst out laughing. We laugh until my stomach hurts and I can't breathe. No one has made me laugh like that in a while. It's nice.

Once we are both done laughing we eat in silence for a while. When I'm done I throw my can in the fire and watch it melt. I watch as the orange flames engulf it until there is nothing left.

When I look up I see Cody looking at me. I look into his intense blue eyes and get mesmerized for a second before he looks away.

I get up and walk over to where Lightning is grazing. I rub his neck and he nuzzles me for an apple.

"I'm sorry boy I don't have one," I say to him.

He gives a sad whinny and then goes back to grazing. I hear Cody come up behind me and look over my shoulder at him. He looks at Lightning and starts to pet him.

"Where did you get him?" he asks.

"My friend, Molly and I were hanging out in the forest one day," I say, "and we came across a little foul that was alone and injured and we took care of him and healed him up. From then on we went back to that spot every day and he was always there waiting for us. Molly decided to name him Lightning and at first I didn't really like that name but I warmed up to it eventually."

Cody nods and keeps petting Lightning. Lightning nuzzles him and begs for apples. Cody backs up not sure what to do.

"He wants an apple is all," I tell him.

"Oh, well I'm sorry to inform you Lightning but I do not have any apples," he says.

Lightning walks closers to him and puts his head up to Cody's chest. Cody pats Lightning's neck. Then Lightning does something I have never seen him do before.

Lightning gives a little whinny, throws his head and nocks Cody to the ground. I stifle a laugh and watch as Cody gets back up and brushes the dirt off of him.

"Well, I have never seen him do that to someone before," I say. "It either means he likes you or he hates you. I'm not sure."

Cody gives me a weird look and then goes back over to the fire and sits down rubbing his elbow where it connected with the ground. I walk to the fire and sit next to him.

I nudge him with my elbow and say, "I'm sure Lightning was just playing."

"Yeah, probably," he says smiling at me.

We both stay silent for a while. I watch the flames wrap around the wood that Cody gathered for the fire.

"I am guessing you're from 2, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"I figured since you have such a dark tan and the way you walk and talk."

"The way I walk and talk? What is that supposed to mean?" I ask him a little puzzled.

"Sector 2 people walk with a little bit of a skip like you and they talk with nice voices kind of like you. But you don't always talk with a nice voice. You seem to avoid making yourself sound like a little girl as much as possible."

He's right I don't like people thinking that I am some fragile little girl who can't take care of herself. I am _not_ a little girl I _can_ take care of myself.

"Wow, you are very observant. How did you get all of that stuff from me?" I say.

"It was part of my training in 4. I was training to be a soldier for the war."

"Oh," I reply through a yawn.

"Hey, why don't you get some sleep? I will keep a watch out for anyone," he says.

"No, I'm fine," I say.

But he's not listening he has already gotten a thin sleeping bag out of his bag and is laying it down next to him. He grabs my small backpack and places it at the top of the sleeping bag as a pillow.

He pats the sleeping and says, "You need to sleep. It's fine if anything happens I will wake you up. I'll stay up and make sure no one finds us."

"Ok, but wake me up and I will take over for you."

He nods and I get into the sleeping bag. I listen to Cody's breathing and the rustling leaves in the wind and before I know it I am drifting off into sleep.

* * *

I wake to someone shaking my shoulder. I open my eyes and blink away the blurriness from sleep. When the blurriness is gone I see Cody looking down at me.

The sun is shining down on us and I smell a fire. I sit up and see that there is some breakfast cooking on the fire. I guess it's not really breakfast food. It's a can of soup. Again. Soup is most of what we have for food, so that is mainly what we are living off of.

"I thought I told you to wake me up to take over the watch for you," I tell him.

"You said to wake you up. You didn't specify when or that I should wake you up to take over for me. Plus I wasn't tired so it was no big deal," he says.

"Ok, but next time you have to wake me up. You can't stay awake all of the time."

He nods and says, "I will. But moving on to more important matters, we will reach Sector 3 today. Tonight we will not be sleeping on the streets or in forests. I know a place we can stay but you have to stay with me at all times. The people there aren't the nicest people you will ever meet."

He walks over to the fire and pulls the can of soup off the fire. He hands it to me and I start to eat.

"Ok, but where are we staying? I don't have money for a suite at a hotel or anything," I say before taking a bite.

"I think I have the money issue taken care of," he says walking over to his bag. He pulls out a smaller bag and opens it to show me what's in it.

My mouth falls open and the soup falls out of the spoon that only made it half way to my mouth. I put the soup down and stare at the money.

There has to be more than two thousand dollars in there. I keep staring at the money, not daring to blink in fear that it will all disappear.

"How much is that? Where did you get it all?" I say wide eyed.

"There is two-thousand three-hundred and forty bucks in this bag. You will see soon enough where I got it all," he says, laughing at me.

"Why are you laughing at me?" I ask him.

"Just look at you. You look like you just saw a ghost or something." He's still laughing at me.

"Well, sorry I have never seen that much money before. My family has never been the richest family in the world."

"I understand. A lot of Sector 4 families are poor."

"So does this mean we are staying in a hotel tonight?" I ask excitedly.

"Yeah and it has a diner and bar in it."

"That sounds nice. So how have you been getting all of this money?"

"You'll see when we get there. Now pack up our things. I'll put out the fire."

I go over to our stuff and start to stuff it in the bags without taking time to put Cody's stuff in his bag or my stuff in my bag. I grab the bag with the money in it and stare at it. I want to know where he got it all from.

Is he stealing it or does he somehow have a job? I don't know, but it is kind of suspicious since he's not telling me. He's probably doing something illegal since he's not telling me.

Cody walks over to Lightning and gives him a pat on the neck. Lightning turns his head and bites Cody's arm. Cody gives a yelp of pain and wrenches his hand back.

"What is it with this horse?" he asks glaring at Lightning. "I swear he hates me."

"Maybe he's mad that you didn't give him an apple when you first met him." I say trying not to laugh.

"I think that he's just mad that he has to carry one extra person."

"Maybe. Why don't we give him a day's rest of carrying us? We have legs too, we can walk."

"Ok. That's probably a good idea. I don't think I could have taken one more day of riding bareback on a horse."

"Oh, you wimp. It's not that bad," I say laughing at him.

"Hey! Who are you calling a wimp? I saved you from those two guys. That took a lot of strength and no wimpiness," he says laughing too.

I give him one last look as I put away the rest of our things. I'm starting to think that this boy isn't as annoying as I thought he was at first.

"So, what's it like in 4?" I ask as we leave.

"Not the best," he says in a very serious voice. "People are starving because our leaders won't give them any food. Almost every day you hear that someone collapsed or died. And people can't buy the food that we are given because they don't make enough money."

He pauses for a while. I can't understand why anyone would do anything like that. The whole reason they set up the Sectors was for the safety of people. Now they are starving them to death? This doesn't make any sense.

"My family never had that problem though," he continues. "My dad was a commander in the army so he made plenty of money to feed us. Sometimes I would sneak food from my house and give it to the people that needed it more. My parents didn't like me doing it though so I had to do it in secret."

He pauses again, this time as if he is contemplating something. Then he says, "One day my dad found out that I was still sneaking food. That was the day that he gave me this." He pulls up the back of his shirt and shows me four scares that run down the middle of his back.

I walk behind him to get a better look and stare wondering what kind of parent would do something so awful to their own child.

Then I speak up and say, "How did he do that? What did he use?"

"A whip," he says.

He pulls his shirt back down and we walk in silence for a while. I hear what sounds like a robin call but there's something off about. I don't know exactly what but I have heard robins all of my life and this one just sounds strange.

Suddenly Cody stops in his tracks and I almost run into him.

"What's wrong," I ask puzzled at what he's doing.

He puts his finger up to his lips telling me to be quiet. I hear the strange robin again and Cody turns to me and grabs my hand pulling me to Lightning.

"Hey!" I protest trying to break free of his grip. "What are you doing?"

"They're coming!" he says urgently. "We have to get out of here right now!"

* * *

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**llamasrock192**

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	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

At that I stop struggling and go with him. He helps me get on Lightning and he gets on in front of me. He kicks Lightning a little harder than he has to and Lightning starts running.

As we take off I hear a loud bang like a gun shot and I feel a searing pain in my right leg a little above my ankle. I let out a yelp of pain and reach down to feel how bad the wound is.

I feel blood and something sticking out of my leg. I grab whatever is sticking out of my leg and pull it out with a groan of pain. I look at it in disbelief. It looks like a tranquilizer dart but I'm not tired or dizzy or anything.

"Did they hit you?" Cody asks with concern.

"Yeah in the leg," I reply. "But it wasn't a bullet that hit me it was this." I hand it up to him and he examines it for a time.

With every step Lightning takes a new stream of pain makes its way up my leg. We run for a few more miles before I can't take the pain anymore.

"Cody we have to stop and examine my leg," I instruct. "Something doesn't feel right about it."

He stops Lightning without a word and helps me off Lightning's back. He gently sets me on the ground I turns his attention to my leg.

It hurts much worse than it looks. It's just a small puncture with a little blood coming out of it. I wince as Cody pokes the skin around it.

"It doesn't look too bad," Cody says. "But I don't understand why they shot that thing at us. It didn't do anything really did it?"

"Other than the searing pain I my leg I'm fine," I say. "Have they ever shot anything like this at you before?"

"No. but they are always shooting weird things at me. One time they shot this canister that emitted this weird gas that didn't have any effect on me," he says with a frown.

None of this makes sense. They are shooting things at us that have no effect. What would the purpose of that be? If they want to take us alive why not just shoot us with tranquilizers or something? It would be as simple as that.

I study Cody's face as he tries to figure it out. I'm sure that he has thought about it before. But he has a very angry face on right now that only tells me to leave him alone and save my questions for when he isn't upset.

"We need to get farther away," Cody says coming out of his daze. "We didn't put very much ground between us and them. They will for sure be chasing us."

He gets up and offers me his hand to help me up. I grab it and try to pull myself up but my leg is forbidding it. When I try to put weight on it a spasm works its way up my leg with an excruciating pain. I fall back to the ground with a suppressed scream of pain. I was not expecting that.

"Zoe?" Cody's now very concerned and kneels down next to me.

"I can't use my leg!" I say panicking.

What if I can't use my leg ever again? I must show my panic too because Cody looks worried and has a very serious look on his face.

"That one little dart shouldn't have done that much damage." Cody says confused. "Unless….." His eyes widen and he picks me up before I can protest.

I let out a small scream of pain as my leg does another little spasm and another wave of pain makes its way up my leg. The pain is worse this time and I almost black out from it.

"Cody what are you doing?" I say through gritted teeth.

He puts me on Lightning's back and gets on behind me keeping me steady. I am starting to get scared about what is going on. I feel like I should know what's going on but my mind is clouded and I can't think straight.

"Zoe listen to me," Cody says firmly. "You have to stay awake. Don't go to sleep. Do you understand me? This is serious. That dart had some sort of poison in it."

At that I realize why my mind is so foggy and I can't think straight. Poison is seeping its way through my veins as we speak. The reality of it all hits me like a ton of bricks. If we don't find help I could die and Molly and Blake will never be saved.

Cody moves Lightning forward at a full gallop. With every step the horse takes a terrible pain makes its way slowly up my leg. I feel like I am going to be sick and a lot of times the corner of my vision turns black.

I lean back on Cody as the pain worsens. I lay my head on his chest and he wraps and arm around me to keep me on the horse. I listen to his strong heartbeat at try to help him keep me on Lightning's back as best I can.

It feels like we have been on Lightning's back for hours now and we might have been but I can't tell. I feel dizzy and I am starting to get tired. But I try to remember Cody's words to stay awake. The pain has made its way to my hip and is becoming increasingly worse.

"Hold on Zoe, we're almost there." Cody says to me in a very worried voice.

I can't imagine what's going through his mind right now. He must be very concerned by the way his voice sounds. I tilt my head up a little and look at his face. His deep blue eyes are wide and they mischievous look he always has is replaced by a look of worry and concern.

He sees me looking at me and by the way his eyes widen and he surges Lightning to go faster I know I must look awful.

We reach a small little house just as it starts to get dark out. The house is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by trees and a little pond in the front. I would think that it was abandoned if not for the lights on inside.

Cody brings Lightning to a stop in front of the house and helps me of. When my feet hit the ground my knees immediately buckle underneath me and I slide to the ground in a spasm of pain clinging on to whatever I can to stay up. What I grab happens to be Cody's shirt and I pull him down with me.

Lightning nuzzles me knowing that I am in pain. I rub his nose and look to Cody for help. He slides one of his arms under my knees and the other on my back and I wrap my arms around his neck. He lifts me up and I let out a scream of pain as another one of the terrible spasms runs up my leg.

By the time we reach the front door of the house and Cody knocks repeatedly until someone answers the world seems to be spinning and I wrap my arms tighter around Cody's neck until it stops.

An old woman answers the door. She looks like one of those kind grandmas that bakes cookies and pinches little babies cheeks. When she sees Cody a look of surprise crosses her face and then she turns her attention to me and looks concerned.

"What happened?" she says in a raspy voice. She gestures for Cody to bring me in.

"Poison," Cody says entering the small house. The woman points to a small white couch and Cody lays me down on it as gently as he can but I still feel a burst of pain.

"What hit her?" the woman asks gesturing to my leg. My leg has swelled up three times its normal size now.

"This," Cody says pulling the dart that hit me from his pocket.

The woman takes it from his hands and examines it. Then she touches the tip of the dart to her tongue which I find a bit odd but Cody doesn't question the slightest bit.

"Just as I thought. This is Spaspharmakon a very deadly poison that makes a person's body convulse in spasms," the woman says. "The girl is lucky that she only got a small dose. If they injected her with even a little bit more she would have been dead before you get here."

"But can you help her?" Cody asks impatiently.

The woman walks over to me on the couch and examines me. She touches my forehead the way my mother always did when I was sick and then she goes to examine my leg. She taps my leg and a spasm shoots up it and a new wave of pain starts. I scream through gritted teeth wanting so badly for the pain to go away.

Cody rushes over a grabs my hand trying to comfort me. I squeeze his hand until the pains lessens. He brushes a loose strand of hair out of my face and tucks it behind my ear.

He turns to the woman and says, "She's burning up. You have to do something quick. Please Zara!" he's now pleading with her.

"I will," Zara says. "But for now the girl must rest while I prepare the antidote."

"You always have antidotes ready!" Cody yells at her. "Why don't you have this one? Can't you see she is in a lot of pain?"

Zara doesn't show the least amount of anything when Cody yells at her she just calmly replies, "I am sorry boy but this is a very rare poison. I have not seen it in years. For now she must rest."

Cody still looks upset. His eyes are wide and he has a huge frown and his hair is a mess from running his hands through it.

"Cody, it's ok. I can wait," I say in a weak voice. I try to give him a reassuring smile but it must look weak because his face becomes paler than it already is.

"Just hurry up with the antidote," he says flatly. He walks over to me just as another burst of pain makes its way up my leg. I close my eyes and wait for the pain to subside. I open my eyes and see Cody staring at me looking very worried.

I don't understand why he seems so worried. We have only known each other for a couple of days. Maybe he has become lonely after a year by himself and is happy that he found someone to keep him company.

I grab his hand trying my best to comfort him. I haven't felt comfortable touching another person since I was attacked. I never really have felt comfortable with it but ever since the attack I have been wary of any kind of contact with another person. But I hold his hand anyway trying not to let my discomfort show.

He sits down on the floor and rests his head on the arm rest that my head is on and he gives me a small smile.

After a while I to drift off to sleep.

* * *

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**llamasrock192**

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	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I wake screaming from pain in my leg. I am confused at first but after a while I realize where I am.

"Zoe!" Cody says jerking awake. He's in the same position he was when I fell asleep. He looks at me in distress staring at me with those deep blue eyes.

"Has the pain passed?" he asks calming down when he sees that my face has relaxed a bit.

I try to say yes but a fit of coughing comes out instead. It takes me a while to compose myself and nod my head to Cody.

"You look worse. You need some water?"

I nod my head and give him a small smile before he leaves to get me water. I he some voices in the room he went into that I assume is the kitchen. He comes back after a few minutes with a glass of water and Zara.

I reach for the glass when he kneels next to me but he pulls it away from my hand and say, "I don't think that you'll be able to hold the glass. I can hold it for you."

He gently and slowly tips the glass until a small stream of water trickles into my mouth then he brings the glass upright so that I can swallow. I give him a grateful smile and he asks if I want more. I weakly shake my head.

I wasn't thirsty in the first place but I knew I needed some water so I accepted his answer anyway. I'm not really hungry either and I take that as a bad sign.

"We're going to move you to a bedroom, ok Zoe?" Cody says.

I weakly nod my head and hold my arms up to him. He puts one of his arms under my back and the other under my knees. When he puts his arms under my knees it makes me wince with pain. Whenever I move my right leg or someone touches it a searing pain shoots up my leg.

I try to hide the pain from Cody so I turn my head so he can't see the pain and will myself not to cry out in pain as he lifts me into his strong arms. He hurries me to a small room in the back of the house. There is a small bed with a flowery comforter on top of it.

Zara walks over to the bed and pulls back the blankets and Cody sets me down on the bed as another wave of pain hits me this time the pain is too much to try and hide. I gasp and cry out in pain as the spasm runs up my leg. This time the spasm makes it all the way to my stomach. I grab Cody's hand surprising him as I crush his hand from the pain. By the time the pain subsides Cody's hand is purple from lack of circulation and I worry that I might have broken his hand.

"Sorry," I say as he rubs his hand trying to make the blood flow back into it.

"The antidote is almost ready there are only a few more hours left until it is ready," Zara says. "When you get it you will be in a constant pain and the antidote fights against the poison but after an hour it should be much better."

"What do you mean 'Should be'?" Cody asks her.

"There is a twenty percent chance that she could go unconscious and never wake up. It will be a hard couple of hours for her and she will need encouragement to stay awake that is why you will be at her side the entire time." Zara informs him with a frown.

I don't comprehend what she says until I look at her again and see the frown on her face just the same. It hits me like a ton of bricks that I might not live to see another day, I might not see my family ever again. My brother and his beautiful smile. My parents and their loving faces. Molly with the jokes that always make me laugh.

Zara leaves the room leaving me and Cody here alone. Cody makes his way over to the bed and sits next to me. He already knows enough about me not to try and comfort me in this moment. It's amazing how much he knows about me from the few days we have known each other. I realize that I don't know much about him.

I don't think that I can hold onto a long conversation so I say, "Cody, why is it you are so worried about me? We have only known each other for a few days."

Cody's face turns into a small frown. He must be thinking because it takes him a while to answer. Then when I am sure he's not going to answer he says, "Because even after a few days I consider you a friend. Plus if you're not around then I am back to being alone with no one to talk to."

I don't really believe him by the way he won't make eye contact and is fidgeting with his hands. But I don't pry because I am loosing energy.

So instead I say, "Do you think it's ok to sleep a while Cody?"

"Yeah, probably. I will leave so you can rest," he says and gets up to leave.

But I grab his hand and say barely audible, "Can you stay. Please."

He nods his head and sits down on the bed. I try to move over a little so he can be more comfortable but when I move pain shoots up my leg and I have to stop.

I wince and Cody sees what I am trying to do and says, "No, don't it's fine I will stay like this."

I nod and blink away the tears that gathered in my eyes when the pain started. I close my eyes and in no time I am falling deeper and deeper into sleep.

* * *

"Zoe. Zoe wake up," someone says gently shaking my shoulder.

I open my eyes and see a blurry figure standing above me. I blink a few times and the figure comes into view. Cody looks down at me and gives me a small smile.

"Zara says that the antidote will be ready in an hour," he says sitting down on the bed next to me.

I nod my head and slowly sit up a little. Pain shoots up my leg again but I try my best to hide it.

I look around the room taking my surroundings in. Before I fell asleep I didn't pay much attention to this room. There is a small dresser next to the purple wall and there are small pictures around the room. Most I can't make out from where I am but there is one on the night stand next to me.

I look at it and see a woman and a young man with her. I recognize the woman as Zara but I have never seen the man. They are standing in front of a house smiling. Zara looks a few years younger but no much. I think the man might be her son but I don't know for sure.

There's a small window in the room too and day light is streaming in. We arrived here last night when it was just getting dark so we have been here for around eight or nine hours.

I feel so bad just sitting here and while Blake and Molly are probably being tortured or something terrible like that. But I know I can't leave in my condition. Hopefully the antidote will work quickly and we can leave this place and keep looking.

Zara comes in and says, "The antidote will be done earlier than I thought. About ten minutes. You should prepare her for this Cody. It will be very difficult."

I look at Cody, confused. "What does she mean 'it will be very difficult'?" I ask. But after I say it I remember what Zara said earlier. "When you get it you will be in a constant pain and the antidote fights against the poison"

Great, more pain. I have been in more pain in the past twelve hours than I have in my entire life. It's not fun.

"Zoe, Zara told me what will happen when she injects the antidote," Cody says. "The poison will try its hardest to fight the antidote and it will feel like a war is taking place in your body. It will be a lot of pain and it's going to last for about an hour. You will feel tired and start to fall asleep but you cannot do that. If you go unconscious you will never wake up. So when you get the antidote think of all the things that make you happy and make you want to get through this. You got that?"

I nod my head. I'm terrified. I could lose my life in less than an hour. But I can't. I have to find Blake and Molly. They need me to find them. That's what I will think about when I get the antidote. I will think of my family and how I love them and they love me.

These thoughts bring tears to my eyes. What if I never see them again? What if I die and the last time I see Blake is when he was being abducted. The tears start streaming down my face like a river. I cover my mouth with my hand and try to stifle a sob. Cody sees my tears and gets worried again.

"Zoe, it's ok. You'll make it through this. You're the strongest person I know." Cody says trying to calm me.

I nod my head and wipe tears from my face. It takes a few minutes to calm myself and for the tears to stop.

When I calm down Zara walks in holding a tiny syringe in her hand. Cody looks up at Zara and then at the small syringe in her hand. Then his face turns into a frown.

"It took you that long to get that tiny thing ready? What have you been doing? Twiddling your thumbs while Zoe was in pain?" Cody looks furious now.

"It is a very delicate process my boy," Zara replies calmly. "It's a very difficult process that takes a long time."

"Ok. But I still don't see why it took you so long," Cody says.

"It is a very intricate antidote." Zara says walking over to me.

"OK girl are you ready?" she asks me.

"As I'll ever be I guess." I respond.

Then she plunges the needle into my leg and the battle begins.

Pain ten times worse than what it was before shoots through my leg and I scream through gritted teeth. I start to sweat and I close my eyes tight. Zara says something but I can't hear what she said. I keep my eyes shut tight and grab whatever I can which just happens to be Cody's hand.

Someone says something to me and I only catch bits and pieces like "…your eyes open… remember….don't fall asleep."

All those little pieces help me to keep going. I open my eyes and immediately the room starts to spin. I clutch Cody's hand tighter and try to stop the room from spinning.

I start to breath heavily and grit my teeth as the pain gradually starts to get worse. As the pain gets worse I start to get very tired and struggle to keep my eyes open.

Looking at the clock I see that it has only been about fifteen minutes. Great. Forty five more minutes of pure torture. Every minute that goes by I get more and more tired. I really don't see how I will make it through this if I can barely keep my eyes open for the first twenty minutes.

With each minute it gets worse. I don't even have the energy to hold Cody's hand anymore he's the only thing holding my hand in his right now. I start to nod my head trying my hardest to keep it up. Each time my eyes start to close Cody gently taps the side of my face with his hand trying to keep me awake.

After a while this doesn't even work and I find myself closing my eyes only to remember that I have to stay awake. That I have to get to Blake and Molly.

But slowly this doesn't even work and I slip into unconsciousness.

* * *

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**llamasrock192**

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	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The next thing I am aware of is loud bangs that seem to shake me into consciousness. Slowly I open my eyes and blink the grogginess from them.

The first thing I see is something white right above me. I move my hand to get out of my face. I am in the same room that Cody took me into last night. At least I think it was last night. I don't know how long I have been out. I also realize that the banging I heard was a thunderstorm.

Then I see the white sheet that was covering me. It's just a simple sheet. Why would they cover me with it? The only reason I could think of is that they thought I was dead. How could they think I was dead? I only slipped into unconsciousness. They could have taken my pulse or something.

Then I remember what Zara said about if I go under I would never wake up. I did go unconscious but I woke up. I really don't understand what is going on.

Then I realize something else. My leg doesn't hurt. I can lift it and I can wiggle my ankle. I slowly stand and realize I finally have full use of my leg again. I walk around the tiny room and jump in joy.

Suddenly I realize that Zara and Cody think I am dead. I stop and walk to the beat up door wondering what their reactions are going to be to me being alive and awake. Hopefully they don't think I am some sort of zombie and try to smash my head in.

I open the door and see a light on in the kitchen. I slowly walk towards the light and see to figures sitting at a table. Cody and Zara. Cody is staring at the table oblivious to anything around him and Zara is stirring what I think is tea in front of her.

When she sees me her eyes widen and she drops her spoon in the little cup. Cody looks up at her and sees her face and looks to where she is looking which happens to be me.

When he sees me his eyes almost pop out of his head in surprise and his mouth hangs open in shock. I smile at him and he smiles back. He walks over to me and gently touches my cheek making sure I am really there.

His smile gets wider and he embraces me in a huge hug. I hug him back and look at Zara over his shoulder. She is still in the same position she was when she saw me. Her brown eyes wide and full of shock.

"Zoe! How are you here? You were dead!" he says after pulling away a little from the hug.

"Well, obviously I'm not dead because I'm here right now. Living and breathing," I say to him.

"Yes, you are!" he says pulling me in for another hug.

I hear a small cough behind Cody and break away from the hug. I see Zara standing next to the table. She's wearing a small apron over a blue dress. Her gray hair is down and it makes her look like she is a little younger except for the fact that her hair is completely gray.

I walk over to her and give her a hug and say into her hair, "Thank you for saving my life."

"You're welcome girl," she says back to me and I break away from the hug. "Why don't you take a seat? You're probably hungry. You didn't eat much while the poison was in your system."

I give her a nod finally realizing just how hungry I am. I sit down and my stomach gives a long growl and Zara laughs.

"I'll make sure I make double for you," she says before walking into the kitchen.

When she is gone I take a look around. I never really got a chance to take in my surrounding when I got here but now I think I have plenty of time.

The house is small and looks a little old. I have noticed that all of the walls in all of the rooms are the same color. A dark red that has faded over the years and now is looking to be more of a light brown.

The floors are all wood and in some places they are uneven. I wonder how Zara avoids tripping on them with her old age. She must know this house very well.

There aren't many decorations in the house. Only a few dying plants and a couple of little sculpture things.

I really can't imagine living here. I think I would find it extremely boring. At least my house had decorations and there was people to talk to. This place seems so isolated and lonely.

Cody comes over to sit in the chair next to me. I give him a small smile and he returns it. Zara returns with a plate heaped with sandwiches. She sets them on the table in front of me and Cody and I immediately grab one and take a giant bite that takes almost half of the sandwich.

I give a sigh of happiness. The sandwich is peanut butter and jelly. My favorite since I was little.

I finish the sandwich within seconds and grab another one. I take another big bite and look up from the sandwich. Zara and Cody are both looking at me with big grins.

"What?" I ask through a mouthful of peanut butter, jelly, and bread.

"You act like you will never see food again," Cody says laughing at me.

"Sorry I'm just really hungry," I say while grabbing yet another sandwich.

I eat this sandwich much slower because I am starting to get full. When I finish I sit back in the chair and sigh.

Cody grabs a sandwich and eats it slowly. We all sit in silence as Cody eats.

When he is done I ask him "Where is Lightning?"

Cody's eyes get wide and he says, "Oh my gosh! Zoe, I am so sorry I completely forgot about him when we got here. I don't know where he is!"

"Cody, it's fine. He's a smart horse. There is plenty of grass and I am sure he can find water. Plus he knows to come when I call him," I say laughing at how he panicked.

His face floods with relief and I smile at him again. I find it funny how he panics over little things like this. But in my head I am still thinking about how he would probably be glad to see Lightning go. He never really did like him.

"We should call him when this storm is over and we can get back to finding Molly and Blake," I say.

"What are you two doing?" Zara asks.

I look at Cody and realize that he never told Zara what we were doing. He gives a shrug of his shoulders and I look at Zara she looks a little confused.

"My brother and friend have gone missing and we are trying to find them," I explain. "We are heading towards The Dominion to find them because that is our best guess as to where they are."

Zara frowns and says, "You won't find them there."

What? Again someone is telling me that I won't find them in one of the most likely places. This is just getting annoying. Where would they be if they weren't in The Dominion or Sector 4?

"Then where would they be?" I ask her in a snappy voice.

"Sector 4," she says.

"They're not in Sector 4. I have lived there pretty much all my life and I haven't seen anything," Cody says sounding confused himself.

"Do you really think that they were going to let a citizen know about this, boy?" Zara replies sounding a bit annoyed.

Cody doesn't have an answer to that but later says, "I was training to be a soldier they would have told me something about it."

Zara gives a little snort and says, "No they wouldn't have, boy. Don't be so naïve. They would never tell something like that to a child."

"I am not a child!" Cody shouts standing up and slamming his hand on the table.

That makes me flinch and speak up, "Please stop it the both of you. I just want to find my brother and friend!"

Tears threaten to spill from my eyes but I don't let them. I am not going to cry. I have done more crying since Molly disappeared than I ever have in my life. I hate crying. It makes my face swell up and my eyes redden and it is very uncomfortable.

"We will Zoe. As soon as the storm is over we can head out," Cody says to reassure me.

"Girl, you're not leaving until I make sure all of the poison is out of your system." Zara says.

"I feel fine Zara. I think it's all out. We are leaving right when this storm is over!" I say.

"You may feel fine now. But if there is still poison is your system you will feel the effects of it later on," she says.

"Fine. But do it fast I want to find Blake and Molly as soon as possible," I say.

"Then come with me," she says beckoning me to follow her into the living room.

I do as she says and follow her. I hear Cody get up after me and follow. Zara gestures for me to lay down on the couch that Cody set me on when we first arrived. I just now realize that is a ugly green color with a few holes in it.

I lay down and Zara comes up to me and lifts my pants leg up to see where I was punctured with the dart. She pokes and prods every once in a while asking if it hurts. Then she comes to my head and she touches it to make sure I don't have a fever or anything.

When she is finished she says, "Ok you are poison free but you still need to take it easy on that leg. It won't be good for you if you go running and jumping into the sunset with the boy."

At that I blush and look at the floor. I really hope that Zara doesn't think that Cody and I are a couple. I think that would just be really awkward. I have never had feelings for a boy and now some old woman is thinking that Cody and I are a couple.

"Ok. I won't use my leg much," I say before the pause gets too long.

I sit up and look at Cody. His face is as red as a tomato. He must have been just as embarrassed as I am at Zara's comment. He sits down on the couch on the opposite end.

Zara looks at us with a weird expression then shakes her head likes she's clearing her thoughts and says, "Ok you two need to pack your bags and get ready to leave if you want to leave when the storm gets over."

I look out the window and see that she is right. The lightning and thunder has stopped and the rain has slowed considerably. The sun is even starting to peak through some of the clouds.

We both stand up and I follow Cody to the room I was in when I got the antidote. Memories of last night pop into my head and I think of the pain I was in. I never want to go through that again. It was awful. I find our bags in the corner of the tiny room and realize we really didn't need to pack them. They really haven't been touched since we got here.

Then I realize that I am still in the clothes that I was in yesterday and I pick up my bag and ask Cody where the bathroom is. He points me down the hall and to the left and I step in and close the door behind me.

When I finish changing I look at my reflection in the mirror and I am shocked. I am pale and my cheeks look hollowed out. I have bags and dark circle under my eyes and my hair is a mess. I look awful.

I grab a brush out of my bags and slowly comb through my hair. Then I grab a tooth brush and tooth paste and brush my teeth. When I am done I feel a little better about my appearance and I walk out of the bathroom.

I find Cody in the living room on the couch. He smiles at me when I walk in and I give a small smile in return.

"Rain stopped," he says.

"Good," I reply looking out the window to make sure he was right. The sun is shining and I can faintly hear birds singing again. Birds singing is always a good sign that the storm is over.

"I guess we can leave now," I say a little sad that we have to be out on the road again.

"Well, you can't leave without saying good bye first," I hear behind me.

I turn around and see Zara in the doorway to the kitchen. She's holding a bag filled with something that I can't see.

"Zara, we would never leave without saying goodbye to you!" I tell her.

Cody and I both walk over to her and give her big smiles. She hands Cody the bag she was holding. He opens it and we both look inside. There is a bunch of food that won't spoil in the heat like canned food and a bag of potato chips and bunch of other things.

"For your trip," Zara tells us.

"Zara you didn't have to give us this," Cody tells her.

"Oh, nonsense I have plenty of food here and I think you two kids could use it. You're both pretty skinny," she replies with a smile.

I look over at Cody. He is a little skinny and so am I but I have always been skinny. My mom used to try and put weight on me by feeding me extra food but she finally gave up because I wasn't gaining any weight. I understand why Cody is skinny too. He has been on the run for a year that can cause a lot of stress and stress can cause weight loss.

"Ok, thank you so much Zara," I tell her and then I give her a hug and she kisses my cheek.

"You're welcome, Zoe," she tells me.

She turns to Cody and gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Cody whispers something in her ear and she gives a slight frown but it disappears as fast as it came.

Cody and I grab our bags and head for the door. We turn around to see Zara following us to the door.

I give her one last hug and say, "Thanks for everything Zara. I will miss you."

"You're welcome Zoe. Just come back to visit some time, ok?" she says.

"Ok," I tell her.

Cody opens the door and I walk outside. Cody and Zara share one more goodbye and then Zara goes inside and shuts the door. The last thing I do before turning away is make a silent promise that I will come back to visit the woman that saved my life.

* * *

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**llamasrock192**

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	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Cody and I make our way to the middle of Zara's yard before I stop. Cody doesn't expect me to stop and he runs straight into me. I stumble forward but he catches me before I fall.

"Sorry," he says.

I don't answer instead I whistle three times a listen for Lightning to come. After a minute or two I hear the familiar sound of him running through the brush. I see him come through the trees and give a whinny when he sees me.

When he approaches me I wrap my arms around his neck and say, "Hey boy! I've missed you."

In response he gives another little whinny. I let go of the hug and he starts jumping around and whinnying at me to join. I do join and jump around with him and we do a little dance where I jump around him and he jumps in circles.

Cody gives a little cough and that brings our reunion to an end. I turn to look at him and he just laughs and shakes his head.

"What?" I ask him. I put my hands on my hips a little defensively.

"What is it with you and this horse?" he asks still laughing a little. "You act like your best friends."

"He pretty much is my friend," I say. "I guess you just don't realize what it's like to have someone who doesn't judge and only loves."

"Hey, I used to have a dog," he states a little defensively back.

"Where you close to it?" I ask a little curiously. I have always loved animals and been curious at other people's relationships with them.

"Not really," he states. "He wasn't the nicest dog ever. Tried attacking me a few times when I tried to pet him so I just stopped trying and gave up on him."

"Oh," I say. "Well, enough chit chat we should probably go."

I don't say what's on my mind because he would just start worrying about me or something. What's really on my mind is my family. I am really starting to worry about Blake and Molly. They have both been gone for so long I am starting to worry if they are even still alive. For all I know they could be dead right now.

But I refuse to believe it. I could never live with myself knowing that they are dead and I was just sitting around an old woman's house while they were being tortured or much worse. I need to save them. I need them to be alive.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Cody says breaking my thoughts up. "We should get going."

I nod and take one of the bags from Cody and sling it across my shoulder. I quickly get on Lightning's back and offer my hand to Cody. He takes it and tries to get on Lightning's back but Lightning quickly hops out of the way and Cody falls down.

"Lightning!" I say swatting his neck in disapproval. "Why are you acting like this?"

He just gives a satisfied whinny and looks back at me with his eyes twinkling with happiness for what he just did.

"Cody, I'm really sorry," I say apologetically. "I don't know what has gotten into him lately."

"It's fine, Zoe," he says as he gets up. "I'd rather walk anyway."

"Ok, but I will walk with you," I say starting to get off Lightning but am stopped by a hand lightly resting on my shoulder.

"Zoe, remember what Zara said," he says sternly. "Your leg will need some more rest and you shouldn't use it too much. Just ride Lightning for a while."

"Fine," I say a little angry that I am being treated like a wounded baby. I nudge Lightning forward and he starts trotting away from Cody.

We get a few yards away before he comes running up next to us. He has to keep a quick jog to keep pace with Lightning.

He looks up at me and says, "Hey would you slow down. I am only following instructions from Zara."

I slow Lightning down a little so he doesn't have to run to keep up with us and say, "Speaking of Zara. How did you two meet and how did you know to take me to her when I got poisoned?"

"Actually," he replies. "I met Zara a few weeks after I went on the run. I got hurt pretty bad and couldn't find anyone to help me. Then I found Zara's house and thought it was abandoned so I went in and searched for anything that would help me. As I was going through some of her things I heard a door close and I froze. I was scared and didn't know what to do so I just stood there hoping that I could somehow become invisible. But she saw me. I tried running for it but she blocked my way. I begged her to not turn me in and that I was hurt and I only needed some medicine. She didn't believe me at first but I finally convinced her that I was hurt. She made some sort of medicine that would help me and she got me healthy again. Since then I have tried not going too far from her house because she said if I ever needed anything else that I could visit her."

When he finally finishes there is still one question lingering on my mind. So I ask him curiously, "Why didn't Zara let you stay? She could have helped you a lot more."

"Zara told me that she has patrols visit her house a lot." Cody says. "I don't exactly know why patrols would come to investigate her house a lot. But they do I have been near her house when they did and it didn't look very pleasant. They knocked on her door loudly and when she didn't answer right away they kicked it in. Then they started looking through her house. They were tearing things off the walls and taking off the couch cushions. They made a huge mess and didn't even bother putting anything back the way it was. They just left her to clean everything up."

"It sounds like they were searching for something," I say. "Do you know what?"

"That's what I always thought but Zara never told me what exactly they were looking for even if I persistently asked. She would just ignore my questions about it so I eventually stopped asking," he answers quickly.

"Well, it's a good thing they didn't show up while we were there because I wouldn't even have made it out the door," I say.

"Yeah, that's one of the things that was really worrying me," he says. "The other was you." he adds quietly.

I just look ahead and stay silent at that. I hate his little comments like that. They make me feel weak and like I can't take care of myself. It's just really annoying.

We stay silent for a little longer and just keep moving forward. Every step we take we are getting closer to Blake and Molly and the more nervous I get. I really don't know how I am going to get them out of there. I didn't even think about that when I left home to go save them. I just expected a plan to come into my head at any moment and for that plan to work perfectly.

Now I am starting to doubt myself. I feel like there is no way I can possibly get them out of there and that going on this trip is a suicide mission. But I can't just leave them there. They might be being tortured or something terrible is happening to them. They could even be dead by now.

But I can't think about that. I refuse to. They aren't dead I know it. I don't know how I know it but I do.

"So I guess it's back to sleeping on the ground?" I ask Cody to take my mind off of those troubling things.

"Actually I was still planning on going to that hotel we were talking about before," he replies staring straight ahead.

"Oh, ok but we can only stay there for one night. We have to keep moving." I say sternly.

"I know but I thought you would like to sleep in a bed for one more night before we went back to sleeping outside on the dirt," he says looking at his feet.

"That would be nice," I say quietly more to myself.

We stay silent for a little longer. After a while it gets to be more of an awkward silence and I need something to do so I take my bag off my shoulder and go through my supplies. I have some clothes, a bag of crackers, a bottle of water and a small first aid kit. Zara must have put the first aid kit in my bag because I didn't have one when we got there.

When I put my bag back on my shoulder I look over at Cody but there is nothing to see. He's gone. I stop Lightning a little suddenly and he gives whinny of complaint. Then get off his back and look around for Cody. He must be pulling a prank on me or something because he wouldn't leave me. Would he?

"Cody?" I call out into the trees.

No answer. Great. Now I have to go looking for him. I go into the trees and start calling his name some more. I search for him for about half an hour until I start to get worried.

He wouldn't just leave me like this. Something must have happened to him. I have to find him I owe him a lot for saving my life. Twice.

I decide to climb a tree to see if I could spot him on the ground somewhere. I find a reasonably tall oak tree and start climbing. I have had plenty of practice climbing trees back home because we had a small area where we grew apples and I was the only one light enough to climb to the very top without falling.

When I reach the top of the tree I scan the ground for any signs of Cody. But I don't see anything. He could be under another tree where I can't see him though.

I start my decent down the giant tree when I hear my name. It's far off and I can't make it out well. I think it's Cody though. I start climbing down faster so he doesn't wonder off to go find me.

When I get on the ground I hop on Lightning's back and yell Cody's name so he can figure out where I am a little easier.

I turn Lightning in the direction of Cody's voice and he starts moving every once in a while I hear Cody yell my name and yell back so he doesn't get confused.

Finally he comes into view and I get off Lightning's back and stomp over to him.

"Zoe where were you?" he asks like he I was the one that suddenly disappeared.

"Where was I?" I yell at him furiously. "Where were you?" I cross my arms over my chest and scowl at him.

"Nowhere don't worry about it ok?" he tells me.

What did he just say? I swear I am going to strangle him. He leaves and doesn't tell me where he is going and freaks me out and he tell me _not to worry about it?_ I am about to leave him and go at this alone. He can be soooo infuriating sometimes! I hate it! I hate him!

"No I will worry about it!" I scream at him. "You really freaked me out Cody," I say in a quieter voice.

"Zoe I'm really, really sorry," he says sincerely to me his blue eyes wide and his mouth in a frown.

"Whatever," I say and push past him stomping in the direction we were going earlier.

* * *

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**llamasrock192**

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	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Soon I hear Lightning come trotting to me and he appears next to me and gives me a wary look. If horses can give wary looks I guess he was making it.

I hear Cody following us at a distance and just try to ignore him. I still can't believe he did that and he didn't even tell me where he went. I am so sick of him. If he falls behind I am not stopping for him that's for sure.

We stay walking like that for about an hour. My anger at him is not going away any time soon. I know I will be angry for a lot longer.

I hear him getting closer so he must think that I am better now. Boy is he wrong. He comes up next to me and I can see him look at his feet while walking from the corner of my eye. I just keep staring ahead trying my best to ignore him.

"Here," he says holding up a bouquet of wild flowers. "I thought you might like these."

I just keep walking and ignore the flowers. They will definitely not fix this. If he thinks flowers are going to fix this he is way off. I am certainly not accepting any gifts from him right now.

"Zoe," he says almost pleading. "I didn't know that would freak you out so much. I'm really sorry."

I just stay silent and keep walking. Yeah, maybe giving him the silent treatment is a little childish but I just don't want to deal with him right now.

"Zoe please talk to me," he says grabbing my shoulder gently and pulling me to a stop.

"We're wasting time," I say and start to walk away but Cody grabs my shoulder again a little more firmly and stops me.

"Zoe, seriously, tell me why you are so angry. I have apologized and offered you flowers I'm trying all I can to make it up to you."

"You should know what ticked me off. You caused it!" I stare at him intently and give him a scowl.

"I'm sorry I left. I thought you would be fine for a little while on your own."

"You're missing a huge point at why I am mad at you." I cross my arms over my chest. I am about ready to slap him. I am just so sick of him.

"And what would that be?" I can tell his is getting a little frustrated and angry with me.

"You didn't even tell me where you went when I found you. You just said not to worry about it! Well you know what, it worried me! I thought maybe they ambushed you or something!"

Cody just stays silent and looks at his feet. He really doesn't want to tell. He's not even trying to lie about this. He's just making me wonder what he was doing.

"You know what just forget about it! I don't want to know!" I say angrily and start to walk away from him.

It doesn't take long before I hear Cody come up behind. I really just want to drop this subject. I know it was kind of stupid to start a fight about it but he freaked me out.

Cody doesn't say anything as he comes up next to me. He must have picked up that I don't want to talk about anymore. I mean, I did tell him to drop it.

"So," Cody says after a fairly long silence. "Do you want to stop to eat? It's almost two."

"Sure," I respond and shrug my shoulders.

We stop and I drop my bag on the ground and go start a fire. I go over to Cody's bag and look for the matches in his messy bag. He really needs to learn how to organize this thing so stuff is easier to find.

As I am looking through his bag I find a tiny little electronic thing. I don't know what it is but it looks like a piece to a computer or something. But it is really tiny. I wonder what it's for.

I put it back in Cody's bag before he realizes I found it. I continue to search for the matches. After a while longer of searching I finally find the matches wrapped up in some of Cody's clothes.

I go find some sticks to use for the fire and have it going in no time. I wait for the fire to die down a little before I put the food on. When it is down enough I make a makeshift grill on top of the fire that I made out of a few more sticks that will probably burn and leaves and put it on top a considerable height from the fire.

Then I put two cans of soup on the grill and let them heat up. I can't believe Zara gave us more soup. I am really tired of that stuff. I'm sure Lightning is even sick of it and he doesn't even eat it.

I get up and walk over to where Lightning is grazing leaving Cody to watch the fire. I'm still a little angry with him. I really need to drop this. We can't be mad at each other forever. I just need a little time to cool off.

I pat Lightning's neck and give him a hug. At least he won't make me angry. He seems to understand that I am angry and gives me a nudge with his head and a whinny.

I go over to Lightning's side and pick up his front leg and examine his foot. I haven't done this in a while and it definitely needs to be done. The hollow in his hoof is filled with dirt and grass.

I grab a stick that will suffice for the job I am going to do and dig it into his hoof. I know it's not the best thing to use to pick his hoof but it's all I have right now. I finish picking his front hoof and move to his back.

I get about half way through when I hear, "Here want to use this?"

Cody is standing next to me watching me work while offering me a pocket knife.

"No thanks," I say still picking Lightning's hoof. "I think I'm good."

I see him put the knife away from the corner of my eye. He just stands there watching me work and I pretend he's not even there. Why is he watching me do this? It not interesting. It's just work.

I finish Lightning's last hoof and stand up straight. He's still there watching me. What is with him? This is getting kind of annoying.

"What?" I ask him crossing my arms and raising my eyebrows.

He just shakes his head a little and says, "Nothing." Then he walks away and goes back to tending the fire and checking the food. He has been acting really weird lately.

I just stand there and watch him. He is really confusing me today. I look away and go back to petting Lightning.

"Food's ready Zoe," I hear from over by the campfire.

I walk over and sit down without a word. Cody hands me a can of soup and I chow down. I didn't realize how hungry I was until now.

"Might want to eat just a little faster there, Zoe," Cody says with a smirk. "It just might get up and run away from you."

I just glare at him and eat a little slower. Could he get any more annoying? Ok, I guess it was kind of funny but still it was a little annoying. I was trying to eat in peace. Wow. What is wrong with me? I am starting to sound like a kill joy to myself even. I should try and fix that some time. But I guess not right now because I am still a little angry with him for earlier.

When I finish my soup I stand up and say to Cody, "I'm gonna go for a ride."

"Ok, I will be right here when you get back," he says in reply.

I just roll my eyes and get on Lightning's back. He looks back at me with a twinkle in his eye and I smile at him. Then he starts sprinting and we are dodging trees and I am enjoying the wind on my face. It feels so good to be riding like this again. Free, happy, and not being chased. It's so nice.

I stop Lightning at a little pond in the middle of a circle of a bunch of huge pine trees. Lightning walks over to the pond and gets a drink.

I slide off his back and say to him, "Why don't you relax a little, boy? I am going to find a nice tree to climb and relax a little myself."

As if he actually understood me he brings his head up from getting a drink and whinnies at me. I head away from the pond and find a good tree to climb about ten yards away from the pond.

I start climbing the tree and when I find a nice branch to sit on and relax I stop. When I look down I see that I went about half way up the tall tree. I can still see Lightning at the pond. He is laying down now and looks really peaceful.

I just sit in the tree for a while looking around into the other trees. It's quite peaceful. Just sitting here and enjoying nature. I have always loved the outdoors and I am thankful that I live in Sector 2 and get to work outside.

As I look into the tree to the left of mine I see something move in-between the and squint to try and see what it was a little better. I can make out two eyes watching me, two arms and two legs. It's a person!

Not good! I try to pretend like I thought I saw an animal or something and act like it's no big deal. I sit in my tree a little longer so the person doesn't think I saw them and look at the other trees. I spot three more people in other trees around me.

Once I have waited long enough and think that they don't know that I know about them I start to descend from the tree. I whistle to Lightning and he waits for me at the bottom of the tree.

When I reach the bottom of the tree I walk as calmly as possible over to Lightning and get on his back. Before we can take off though, someone yanks at my leg and I fall off of Lightning's back.

My head hit the ground hard and I see stars and Lightning bolt away from these people and towards the place I left Cody. I try to get up but someone puts there dirty boot on my throat, cutting off my breathing. I start to thrash and kick desperately to get away from these people.

"Thought we didn't see you notice us in the trees, little girl?" the man with the boot on my throat says. I my lungs burn from the lack of oxygen and I feel like I am pretty close to passing out.

"Thomas!" one of the other men yells at the one that has his boot on my throat. "Take your foot off of her throat! We need her alive!"

At that the man, Thomas, takes his boot off of my throat and I start coughing uncontrollably and can barely move or think about anything that's going on other than that I need to breathe.

When I finally catch my breath someone comes over to me and handcuffs me.

"What do you want with me?" I ask them in a hoarse voice.

"We don't want anything from you, little girl. We need something from you." a man with a crooked nose says to my right.

What? They need something from me? What would that be? I don't have anything that seems important.

"What exactly do you need from me?" I ask them trying to sound calm but it comes out angry and full of hate.

"You are very rare, Zoe," a man to my left says. "You can do things that most people can't"

I don't even guess as to how they know my name. But I do wonder what they mean by me being able to do things most people can't.

"Yeah, and what would that be? Picking apples and growing plants? That's about all I do so I think you have got the wrong person." I say with a calmer voice than before, which surprised me because I am really angry right now.

How can these people think that I am special? I mean come on, I'm sixteen years old, I tiny and only weigh around a hundred pounds and the only talents I have are growing crops and harvesting which isn't that tough. I'm not special I'm common and normal and I like it that way.

"No, you're the exact person we want," says a man directly behind me. "You have no idea what you can do yet but you will find out soon enough."

"Ok, you can believe what you want but I really don't think I am anything special," I say.

After that all of the men just stop talking to me and start to talk amongst themselves. Except for one of them, the one that choked me with his boot. He just stares at me with a look of disgust. I wonder what his problem is.

I start to look around for any escape out of here. I know it's futile to try though because I am surrounded by a bunch of big muscular men with my hands tied behind my back and some guy that seems to hate me staring at me. Yeah, there's really no way out of here.

But then I see him. Cody. He found me. Hope rises in me and I see him give me a quick wink. Meaning he's going to get me out of this. Meaning he's going to save me. Again. Great. Will I ever stop owing him?

I give him two fast blinks showing him that I understand and look away back toward then men that tied me up. They all start to gather around me in a circle again and I scowl at each and every one of them. I count ten of them and they all are huge and muscular. I don't see how Cody is going to get me out of this one.

"Get up," one of them orders me. "We have to get back to the truck."

I get up and Thomas grabs my arm so hard I'm sure I will have a bruise. I give him a hateful look and start to walk with them. About every twenty meters or so Thomas's grip gets tighter and tighter around my arm.

"Would you please stop that!" I say to him in an angry voice.

He just gives me another hateful look and tightens his grip. What is it with this guy? I've never even met him and he seems to really hate me.

We continue walking for by what I can tell is ten minutes when we finally come to a rode. The road is dirt and it snakes through the trees for as far as I can see. Then I notice a large semi parked on the side of the rode.

Both truck and trailer are both white with yellow stripes. All of the men walk up to the trailer dragging me along with them. One of them unlocks a lock and opens the doors to the trailer.

When they open the doors the smell inside hits me like a ton of bricks. The smell is like a mixture of rotting food and animal feces. I look inside and see some chains and ropes attached to the walls of the trailer.

I see a small movement inside the trailer and look harder to see what is was. Then I see a little boy that looks maybe five or six, skin and bone, his hair blonde hair all a mess and his grey eyes wide and scared.

"Get in there," says a man behind me as he pushes me closer to the trailer. As I enter the trailer hands push me and I fall hard onto my face. They all start laughing behind me and one of them steps in with me and helps me up. Then he takes me over to the little boy and attaches my handcuffs to a chain on the wall.

When he exits the trailer they close the doors and I hear them lock it too. Great. Cody better get his butt in gear if he is going to help me.

I look over at the little boy and see that he is silently crying. I feel so bad for him. He's so young and innocent and they have him in this trailer chained to a wall. How could they do that to a little kid?

"Hi," I say to him in a very gentle voice. "My name is Zoe. It's ok you don't need to cry. I know someone who is going to get us out of this very soon."

"How is your friend going to get us out?" he asks in a very tiny, broken voice.

"I am not sure but he will. He has gotten me out of a lot of trouble." I tell him in a soft soothing voice.

Just then I hear the truck start its engine and my heart sinks. Where is Cody? I thought he was going to get me out of this. Maybe I didn't interpret his wink right. Maybe it meant that he wasn't going to help me on this one.

Suddenly the truck starts moving and my heart drops as low as it will go. Something's wrong. Cody would have gotten me out of this by now.

Right then I hear a large explosion in the front of the truck. The little boy and I get jolted towards the back of the trailer and I hit my head on the doors.

The doors suddenly burst open and I see Cody standing in the doors with Lightning right behind him.

* * *

**Let me know what you think! Or just let me know that someone is actually reading this!**

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**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Cody!" I say relieved that he is getting me out of this.

He steps into the trailer and comes behind me to pick the lock on my handcuffs with a paperclip.

"Unlock his too," I tell him, turning to the little boy that's next to me. "We're going to get you out of here now, ok?"

He looks at us both uncertainly for a while. Then as if deciding that we are going to actually help him he nods his head. Cody goes to unlock his handcuffs and I hold out my hand to him.

I hold out my hand to him and he just stares at me not knowing if he should take my hand.

"It's ok," I tell him in a nice voice. "You can trust us."

He gives me one more look and then finally takes my hand. Cody leads us to the doors of the trailer and stops to check if the coast is clear. Then he motions us outside and I help the boy on Lightning's back and get on behind him and Cody gets on behind me. I hold the boy in place so he doesn't fall off and Lightning takes off a little slower than he normally does because of the extra weight.

Before we can get back into the trees though I feel Cody get yanked off of Lighting behind me and I immediately stop Lightning and turn him around to see what happened.

Thomas, the man that hates me, is standing over Cody kicking him repeatedly. Cody is curled up in a ball trying to protect himself as best he can from being kicked in vital organs.

"Cody!" I yell and get off Lightning's back. "Stay here ok? I'll come back I just a second." I tell the little boy.

He nods and I run over to Cody and Thomas and jump on Thomas's back. I put both my arms around his neck and hold on with my legs as best I can. He stops kicking Cody and starts clawing at my arms around his neck.

He gets ahold of my arms and starts trying to yank them off his neck. I tighten my grip but he is too strong and he gets my arms off of his neck. I get off his back and try to get away from his hold but he is really strong.

He twists my arm so hard and so fast that I cry out in pain. I start kicking him as hard as I can but he just twists my arm farther to the point I think it might break so I stop struggling and just stand there.

Suddenly a fist connects with Thomas's face and he falls to the ground.

"Don't _ever_ touch her!" Cody says in a voice so full of anger and so quiet that I am shocked by the way he said that. Usually he's so lighthearted and funny that I am completely taken aback.

Thomas gets up and goes after Cody in a rage. He swings at Cody but Cody easily dodges and kicks him in the side. He tries to kick Cody but freezes in mid kick with a hateful look on his face.

Cody stops and looks at him in confusion. He waves a hand in front of Thomas's face. He doesn't blink or pull back or anything. He's just frozen with a leg in the air staring at where Cody just was. Cody flicks him in the nose and still nothing happens.

I go over to where Thomas is frozen and ask Cody, "What happened to him? What's going on?"

"I don't know," Cody say with a confused face. "He just froze."

"I think I can explain things," the little boy says behind us. I turn and see that he got off Lightning.

"What do you mean?" I ask him, confused.

"I have chronokinesis," he says. "At least that's what I think they said. It's a big word."

"What's chronokinesis?" I ask him still really confused as to what is going on.

"I can stop time," he says. "Or make it fast-forward or go backwards."

"Ok, so that's what's happening now?" I say. I don't see how any of this is possible. I mean come on, stopping time? Yeah, right.

"Yep," the boy says with a grin. "But don't you have an ability like me? I figured you did because you were in the truck with me and I heard them talking about some girl with very unique powers."

"Um, no. I don't have any abilities like you. I'm completely normal." I say seriously to the little kid. I can't believe I am having this conversation. Cody hasn't even said anything so I am guessing he is completely dumbfounded.

"Then why did they take you?" the little boy asks.

"I don't know! All I want to do is find my brother and my friend and go home." I say a little impatiently. "Now can you please make time go again or whatever?"

"I think we should get out of here first, Zoe," Cody says.

"Ok, then let's go," I say quickly.

I walk over to Lightning and help the boy on his back. I get on behind him and Cody gets on behind me. I hold on to the boy so he won't fall off and Lightning starts running into the trees.

We go as far as Lightning can with three people on his back and stop at a little pond. We all get off Lightning's back and Lightning goes over to the pond to get a drink.

"I'm letting time continue now," the boy says.

I just look at him and nod. I'm still a little confused with all that is going on. I don't see how this is possible and yet, I saw for myself. He actually froze time. I don't know how he did it and I don't really want to.

"Ok, kid, so what's your name?" Cody asks him.

"Jake," he says.

"Well Jake, do you want us to take you to your parents or someone?" Cody says.

"My parents are dead," Jake says with a frown. "And I would rather not go back to my adoptive family. Can I stay with you guys?"

"I'm sorry about your parents, Jake, but where we're going is going to be dangerous." Cody tells him. "I think it's best that you go back to you adoptive family."

"But you don't understand," Jake says seriously. "They hurt me. A lot."

I see Cody stiffen when Jake says that and I immediately think of how his dad whipped him for trying to help people.

"How do they hurt you, Jake?" Cody asks in a tight voice with a frown on his face.

"They hit me. Hard." Jake says.

I see that Jake is starting to get tears in his eyes and know that just talking about this is scaring him.

"Cody, I think that's enough questions for now," I tell him pointing out that this is upsetting Jake.

"Ok," Cody says. "But we need to talk about what we are going to do with him. We can't just leave him here and we definitely cannot take him back to his adoptive family."

"Yeah, I know," I say watching Jake pet Lightning. "Do you think we can take him to Zara?"

"I don't think that's a good idea. You know, since she has patrols come to her house," he says.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I say still watching Jake.

"I mean, if we take him with us he could be useful to get Molly and Blake," Cody says frowning. "But he's still really young and could easily get hurt and I really don't want to take that chance."

I sigh and say reluctantly, "I guess we really don't have any other choice than to bring him with us. In all of the situations we can offer, he can get hurt. I don't like this, Cody."

"Me neither but it's all we can do right now," Cody says rubbing his eyes stressfully. "We will make it to Sector 3 tomorrow and we can stay in a suite at the hotel for a while until we figure something out."

I sigh and turn around and start pacing back and forth. This is all too much. I need to find Blake and Molly not baby sit some kid with a weird ability. I start panicking and run my hands through my long, brown, matted hair. The longer Blake and Molly are in there the higher my stress level gets.

"Zoe," Cody says walking up to me and putting a hand on my shoulder making me come to a halt. "Just relax we'll figure this out, ok?"

I nod and try to slow my breathing. I lean against a large tree and slide down until I'm sitting on the ground. I put my head in my hands and hold back tears that are threatening to spill over. I can't cry now. Not in front of Cody and Jake. I have to be strong.

I feel a light tap on my shoulder and look up. Standing in front of me is Jake. With his blonde hair a mess, his greys eyes filled with worry and his cheeks hollowed out from the lack of proper nourishment. I instantly feel awful that he looks this way because of the way he was treated by those people.

"Are you ok?" he asks in a voice so sweet and full of innocence that it makes me feel even more terrible that he is in this situation with us.

"Yeah," I tell him. "Just a little stressed out right now."

"Why are you stressed?" he asks.

"I'm trying to find my brother and friend and things keep popping up and delaying me," I say rubbing my eyes.

"Oh," he says. Then I see a spark in his eyes when he says, "Hey, maybe I can help you!"

"Jake I really don't think that's a goo—" I start.

"Oh come on!" Jake squeals. "Zoe, please! I can help! I can freeze _time_!"

"I know, Jake," I say sternly. "But what we're doing could get dangerous and we couldn't risk you getting hurt."

"I can take care of myself," he says, equally as sternly. "I'm seven years old!"

"That's why we can't let you come," Cody tells him before I can. "You're too young to be going through any of this stuff."

"But I can help you!" Jake says starting to get frustrated. "I can control time. Can either of you do that?"

Cody and I just looked at him. I guess he was right there. Neither I nor Cody could do anything like Jake. At least I think. And kind of hope deep down inside.

"I thought so," Jake says, proud of himself for using his ability against us.

"Jake, could you let Zoe and I talk in private for a while?" Cody asks.

Jake just shrugs and goes over to where Lightning is now grazing and starts petting him.

I turn to Cody and say, "I still don't think he should come with us."

"I don't know," Cody says while watching Jake pet Lightning. "I think he could be useful in our situation. Plus he has nowhere else to go other than to his abusive family."

"Cody," I say. "He's seven years old! We can't let him get hurt! Plus, Lightning is already carrying two people every day. We can't make him carry more!"

"Why are you so against him coming with us?" Cody asks seeming to be getting a little annoyed by me. "It's like you have something against little kids."

I look away at that. I'm not much of a kid person. Yeah, they're cute and fun when they are happy and not complaining or crying but when they aren't happy they just kind of get on my nerves. I don't have much patience for that sort of thing.

Cody's eyes widen a little and he says, "You don't like kids?"

"It's not that I don't like them it's just I don't have the patience to be around them for very long," I tell him.

"Well," Cody says. "I'm sorry you feel that way but I say he comes with us. And don't try to argue because really there's nothing else we can do, Zoe."

* * *

**Let me know what you think!**

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**llamasrock192**

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	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

I watch as Cody walks over to Jake and get on one knee so that he is eye level with him. They start talking for a while and then I see Jake throw his fist in the air and say, "Yes!" with a huge grin on his face.

I walk over to them and say, "Ok you guys ready to go?"

"Yay," Cody says. "Let's go." He takes Jake over to Lightning and helps Jake on the horse then he gets on behind him.

He offers his hand to me to help me up but I shake my head, hold up my hands and say, "I think I am going to walk for a while, ok?"

Cody just shrugs and we start walking. We all stay silent for a while and I try to stay on alert for anything unusual so if anything happens we can get out of here quickly.

"Zoe, you ok?" Cody asks.

"Yeah, why?" I ask him.

"Well," Cody says looking down at me. "Your knuckles are turning white because you're clenching your hands so tightly, your face is really pale and your acting like you're looking for something."

"I'm just on alert," I say looking away from him. "I'd rather not go through that again, you know?"

"Zoe, it'll be fine," he says seriously. "Nothing's going to happen."

I nod but continue to look around nervously. I really hope we make it to that hotel today or else I am going to be awake all night worrying.

"Cody, I'm hungry," Jake says with a slight whine in his voice.

"Ok, one sec," Cody tells him and rummages around in his pack for a while. Then he looks at me and asks, "Do you have anything he can eat in your pack?"

"I think I might have some crackers," I say taking my bag off my shoulders and looking through it. I find the crackers and hand them to Jake.

He snatches them away and starts eating them noisily. After a while he looks at me and asks with a full mouth, "What's this horse's name?"

"His name is Lightning," I inform him with a small smile.

"Sweet, I wish my name was something cool like that," he says. "Hey I got an idea why don't you guys start calling me Thunder so that me and Lightning match!"

I look over at Cody who is silently laughing and I join him. See this is why sometimes I love little kids. They're so funny. But once the complaining starts I just can't take any of it. Call me impatient and grumpy all you want but that's just how I am.

"Ok I'm done with these," Jake says handing me an empty bag. I take them from him and stuff them back in my bag. Then Jake says, "Can get off and walk with you for a little bit Zoe?"

"Yeah of course," I say.

"Why don't we all walk for a while," Cody says stopping Lightning. I help Jake off and Cody gets off after Jake is on the ground.

Jake looks up at me and asks me, "Where are we going?"

I look at Cody and he answers for me, "Well, right now we are going to a hotel in Sector 3 but we won't make it there until tomorrow. Once we spend a night at the hotel we will continue on to find Zoe's brother and friend in Sector 4."

"Oh," Jake says. Then he turns to me again and says, "Were they taken too?"

I nod my head and look away. I'm trying my best to not think about what is happening to them but sometimes it's all I can think about. I hope they aren't being hurt. Or worse.

"Oh, that must mean they're special, like me!" I hear Jake say loudly next to me.

"Um, no," I say. "They are normal just like me and cannot do anything like you." _I hope_, I add mentally.

I have to admit what Jake can do scares me a bit. I mean, how is that even possible? It definitely shouldn't be. I hope he doesn't use it often or freeze time and do something awful to us. But I guess he's only seven so he couldn't do anything too terrible to us.

"Then why are did they take them?" Jake asks, confused. "I have only ever seen them take people with powers like me. And most of them are as old as you."

"I really don't know, Jake," I say to him. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Oh," is all he has to say.

We walk in silence for a while. I keep nervously glancing around and Cody keeps giving me worried looks. I just shrug my shoulders when he looks at me. I don't know why I am so worried but I just have a bad feeling right now.

All of the sudden I get a pounding headache and close my eyes and massage my temples for a while. I notice the wind pick up and start blowing pretty hard as we walk. My headache just keeps getting worse and worse as we walk so I finally just stop walking and put my head in my hands.

"Zoe, you ok?" I hear Cody ask me.

I don't say anything because my headache is getting much worse very fast. I try to just get through the pain as best I can and lift my head and nod to Cody. I notice the wind is getting stronger and trees are bending over pretty far meaning the wind is really strong right now.

Cody gives me a skeptical look and yells over the wind, "Zoe, I think we should find shelter before this wind gets any worse."

I nod and walk over to Jake and Lightning, trying to hide my pain as best I can from Cody. He doesn't need to know that I am in pain. He would just worry and make me lie down and sleep for a while and I've already delayed us enough on this trip and I don't need to do it again. I can handle a little headache.

Cody helps Jake onto Lightning's back and gets on behind him. Cody offers me his hand and helps me on behind him. I have to wrap one arm around Cody to stay on Lightning's back because I am starting to get a little dizzy from this headache. The other hand is massaging my temple. I am happy I am in the back so that no one sees my face and me massaging my temple.

After a while of searching we find a small cave that will work. It's big enough for all of us and Lightning to fit into but the wind still blows a little strong inside of it.

We all get off Lightning's back and enter the cave right when the wind starts picking up to where it could be dangerous. I walk to the back of the cave and slide down the wall until I am sitting on the cold floor.

My headache is extremely bad right now and I feel dizzy and nauseous. I try to distract myself from the headache and look around the cave. It's damp and fairly cold but large and it protects us from the wind so there's really no complaining.

Cody comes to sit next to me with one leg straight out in front of him and the other bent up towards him. His arm is around the leg that's bent towards him. After a while he sighs and says to me, "It's getting kind of late. I think we should stay the night in here. What do you think?"

I nod my head and even that slight movement hurts extremely bad and I wince. Hopefully Cody didn't see me wince. He doesn't need to worry about me.

"Zoe, what's wrong," he says noticing me wince. Dang. "I saw you wince."

"Cody, I'm fine," I say and immediately wish I hadn't said it so loud. Now my head feels like it's going to burst open any second. I put my head in my hands trying to make the pain lessen.

"Well obviously something is wrong," he says. "You look awful right now."

"Thanks, Cody, you're so nice," I snap at him.

"You know that's not what I meant," he says back. "Now tell me what's wrong. You're really pale right now."

"I just have a headache right now," I say closing my eyes. "Probably from stress or something, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand," he says. "I'll go get you something to eat, ok?"

I begin to protest but he has already gotten up and headed to our bags at the other end of the cave.

Jake comes to sit with me while Cody is getting some food and he asks, "Are you ok?"

I give him a small smile and say, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just have a headache."

Suddenly his face perks up and he gives me a big grin while saying, "Hey when I first started to be able to control time I got headaches too! Maybe you're like me and you're getting something like me!"

I sigh and say, "I really doubt that."

"When I got my headaches weird things would happen," he says. "Like time would stop for a second and then continue. Does it feel like your head is gonna explode? 'Cause that's what I thought was happening to me!"

"Yes my head does feel like it will explode," I tell him. "But the only reason I have a headache is from stress, ok? I'm not getting any powers or magic or whatever you want to call it. I am normal!"

I say that last part a little loud and I see Jake's excitement diminish. Immediately I wish I hadn't said that last part. Now Jake looks upset and I feel bad for referencing that he isn't normal.

"Jake, I'm so sorry I didn't mean that," I say apologetically.

Jake is about to respond when he is interrupted by Cody bringing me a bag of crackers, a bottle of water and the first aid kit. He hands me the food and drink then sits down next to me and starts looking through the first aid kit.

"What are you looking for in there?" I ask him before taking a drink of water.

"Something to help with your headache," he says quickly.

After looking at a few labels on some bottles he finally opens one and hands two large pills to me.

"Here, take these they will help with the headache but will make you extremely tired," he instructs me.

I take the pills from him and take them each with a mouthful of water. I eat the crackers he gave me slowly and only eat about three before I start to get tired.

"Do you think we should start a fire?" Cody asks to my right.

"No," I say through a yawn. "It would be dangerous with the wind and all."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he says. "I'll go get the sleeping bags out."

I nod and expect my head to hurt when I do but it's perfectly fine. That medicine did wonders for my headache but I am extremely tired like Cody said I would be.

I also notice that the wind has died down considerably. Maybe we can start a fire after all.

I watch as Cody gets our one sleeping bag out his pack. I hope it doesn't get cold at night because we only have one and we can't all fit in it.

I walk over to Cody and say, "Maybe we can start a fire. The wind has died down pretty good."

"Yeah I guess we can," he says. "I'll go get so wood. Why don't you lie down and sleep for a while you look exhausted. I'll wake you up when I finish heating up the food."

I begin to protest but he has already turned around and walked away. Instead of lying down and going to sleep even though I am really tired I walk over to Jake and sit next to him. I look over at him and see his head drooping and his eyes closing. He's trying to stay awake but is having trouble.

"Hey," I say in a quiet voice. "You getting tired?"

He shakes his head in denial and looks at me with a smile. I smile back a ruffle his blonde hair with my hand.

"Come on," I say standing up. "You need some sleep."

I offer him my hand to help him get up. He takes it and I walk him over to the sleeping bag Cody laid out. I pat it and he gets in and almost immediately falls asleep.

"Hey, you were the one that was supposed to be asleep," I hear Cody say behind me after a while.

I turn to see him with a bunch of branches and pine cones and other things to use for the fire. I give him a smile and say, "I thought he needed it more than I did. It's fine really. I can stay awake a little longer."

"If you say so," Cody says with a skeptical look.

He starts preparing the fire while I walk to the entrance of the cave. I notice that it is almost completely dark out and that it was a good idea to start a fire so that we could see in the cave.

I walk back in and see that Cody has go the fire started and is starting to make a makeshift grill. I notice him having a little trouble with it so I walk over to him and take it from him. I quickly finish it and place it over the fire while Cody opens three cans of; yep you guessed it, soup.

"Why is it that we only have soup, Cody?" I ask him.

"I have no idea. It just sort of happened," he says.

"Well, I'm sick of it," I say making a disgusted face.

"Don't worry tomorrow we will have much better food in Sector 3," Cody says with a smirk. "I guess, unless you, miss damsel in distress, get caught again. Then I, your knight in shining armor, will save you once again."

Cody starts laughing as I give him my best 'you're so totally dead look' and say, "I am not a damsel in distress and you are not my knight in shining armor!"

That just makes Cody laugh harder and causes me to get angrier so I get up and walk outside to where Lightning is grazing. I guess I didn't realize he came out here. I thought he was inside. I wonder how I missed a thousand pound horse coming out here. I guess I can blame it on the medication Cody gave me for my headache earlier. I am really out of it.

What Cody said made me really angry with him. He basically called me weak and I am definitely not weak. I know I'm small but that doesn't mean I'm not strong or that I can't take care of myself.

I guess I have depended on Cody for most of this trip. He did save me. Three times now, actually. I really owe him a lot. But not right now. Right now I would rather be mad at him than owe him anything.

"Hey, foods ready," Cody says putting a hand on my shoulder making me jump and punch him in the nose. Oops.

"Geez, Zoe!" Cody says trying to stop the flow of blood from his nose. "I was just letting you know food was ready!"

"I'm sorry, you scared me!" I tell him apologetically. "It was just a reaction I promise! I didn't do it on purpose!"

"It's ok, Zoe," he says wiping away blood from under his nose. "Let's just go inside."

"Ok," I say. I feel really bad about hitting him. But did he kind of deserve it for calling me a damsel in distress.

As we walk inside I see that the cans of soup are all off the fire and that Jake is still asleep. I go over to wake Jake up while Cody goes to find something that will help with his nose.

"Jake," I say, softly shaking his shoulder. "Jake foods ready. You can go back to sleep when you're finished eating."

He just moans and shifts so that he is facing away from me. I sigh and decide to be mean and unzip the sleeping bag and make him sit up. I prop him up into a sitting position but he refuses to get up and just slumps back down.

I decide to be even meaner and say, "Jake if you don't get up this instant I am going to go get a bucket of water and dump it on you!"

I see his eyes open a little at that but he instantly shuts them when he sees that I noticed him do that. I sigh and finally resort to picking him up and making him stand.

He finally opens his eyes and goes over to grab one of the cans of soup. I sigh and shake my head knowing that this isn't going to be an easy trip with him doing that every time he has to get up.

I go over to sit next to him and start eating my can of soup. I get about one fourth the way through my food before Cody sits next to me giving me a small smile. I notice that his nose has stopped bleeding but there is a bruise forming where I hit him.

I reach my hand up and gently touch the bruised skin and ask, "Do you think I broke it?"

He looks down at me and gives me a reassuring smile, "No, you just bruised it pretty good." Then he says with a smirk, "Man, you have a mean right hook."

I turn my head and drop my hand feeling my face heat up in a blush. Why am I embarrassed? He's complimenting the way I hit him for crying out loud. I shouldn't be blushing about that.

After a while of silence Jake gets up and goes back over to the sleeping bag and falls asleep. His soup can is on the ground where he was sitting. I go over and pick it up and throw it into the fire. I go back over and sit next to Cody. We stay silent so we don't wake Jake.

I stay staring at the fire for a while and think about everything that has happened today. Leaving Zara's house. Cody leaving for no reason. Cody and I fighting. Me getting taken. Cody finding me. Jake freezing time. And that terrible headache I had earlier. It all feels like it was a lifetime ago. I guess it has been a really long day and I should want to sleep right now but I don't even with the medication making me extremely tired.

All of the sudden another extremely bad headache hits me and I lay down on my side curling into a ball holding my head. I don't understand! The headaches should be done that medicine was working just fine! What is going on?

"Zoe!" I hear Cody say but he sounds miles away right now. My head is pounding and I feel like it's going to split in half any second.

Suddenly there is a huge explosion from the fire and I completely forget about the pain in my head as Cody and I watch in horror as the sleeping bag Jake is in catches on fire.

* * *

**Let me know what you think!**

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**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Jake!" I scream as I scramble to get up and run over to Jake.

When I reach him he is already half way out of the sleeping bag. I grab his arms and yank him the rest of the way out. I see Cody carefully taking the sleeping bag out of the cave trying not to get too close to the fire. I turn back to Jake and start inspecting him for burns.

"Did you get burned?" I ask him.

"A little bit on my ankle," he says giving me a view of a minor burn on his right ankle.

"Wow," I say happy that that's the only burn he has. "You got really lucky."

"Yeah, I guess I did," he says smiling.

I walk over to our bags and look for the first aid kit. When I find it I search for some burn medicine. After a little searching I find something that looks like a toothpaste tube that says it's for burns and walk back over to Jake with the medicine.

"Ok," I say. "I am going to put this on your burn. It might hurt a little at first but after a while it should feel much better."

He just nods and I lift up his pant leg to get to the burn better. I apply the burn medicine and see him wince but after a while his face relaxes.

"Better?" I ask and stand up.

He nods and goes and sits down a few yards from the fire. I see Cody come back into the cave with a burned up sleeping bag. He walks over to our bags and sets the sleeping bag down then he walks over to me.

"How's Jake?" he asks me.

"Surprisingly he only had one minor burn on his ankle," I tell him. "Did you get burned at all?"

"No, I'm fine," he answers me. "I had a little trouble putting the sleeping bag out. I really don't think we will be able to use it again."

"Ok," I say. "That shouldn't be a problem considering it's not too cold out and if it does get cold we have extra clothes we can use."

Cody nods then asks me, "Do you have any idea what happened with the fire?"

"I don't know. That was really weird it shouldn't have exploded like that. There was nothing on it or around it to make it do that," I tell him.

"Yeah, that was really weird," he replies.

"Do you think we should put it out in case it happens again?" I ask him.

"No, let's keep it going so that we have a little light," he answers. "We just have to keep our distance from it."

I nod and walk over to the fire. I keep my distance and look for anything that could have caused the explosion but I don't see anything so I just lay down about seven yards from it.

I don't plan on going to sleep yet but I am exhausted. After a while it gets difficult to keep my eyes open and I find myself falling into a restless sleep.

* * *

"Zoe. Hey, Zoe, wake up," someone says pulling me out of my slumber.

I open my eyes to Cody standing over me and the sun shining into the cave. I sit up and stretch my arms out then stand up.

I look around the cave and notice that Jake isn't in here and ask Cody, "Where's Jake?"

"He's outside with Lightning," he says while packing up our things. "We should make it to Sector 3 by noon today and then we'll be at the hotel by two."

"Ok," I say. "Why are we staying there for so long? We need to keep moving."

"Yeah, I know," he replies. "But I have some business to take care of there."

"What kind of business?" I ask him a curiously.

"I owe this one guy some money for helping me one time and I have to pay him back," he says while putting away some food.

"What did he help you with?" I ask him. He never told me about this.

"Oh, nothing really," he says causally. "I just needed a few things and he got them for me."

"What kind of stuff did you need," I question.

"Zara suggested I get a gun," he explains. "So I took her advice and got one from this guy but I still owe him a little money so he said he would meet me at the bar by the hotel tonight."

"Oh," I say. I still have a few questions about how he got in contact with this guy and there's still the question about how he made all of that money but I decide not to ask them.

I start to help him stuff the burnt sleeping bag in my pack. I guess he decided to take it with us and throw it away at the hotel instead of leaving it here.

After a moment of silence I ask him, "So how's your nose today?"

"What?" he asks confused.

"I hit you yesterday remember?" I tell him. "How is it?"

"Oh," he says. "It's just bruised. It's fine."

"I really am sorry about that," I tell him apologetically.

"Seriously, Zoe, its ok," he says giving me a smile.

I smile back and say, "Well I really am sorry." We stay silent for a few minutes then I tell Cody, "I'm going to go check Jake's burn. Can you hand me the burn medicine from the first aid kit?"

"Yeah, one sec," he says and grabs the first aid kit and searches around it and after a while he pulls out the medicine.

When he hands me the medicine I say, "Thanks. I'll be right back."

Then I walk out of the cave towards Jake. "Morning Jake," I say as I approach him.

"Hey Zoe," he says, turning to me and smiling.

"I have to put some medicine on your burn," I inform him.

"Do we have to?" he asks in a whining voice.

"Yes, now let me see," I instruct him.

"Fine," he says through a sigh. He pulls up his pant leg and I get down on my knees and inspect the wound. It looks slightly better and should heal in about a week or two. I apply the medicine and stand up closing the medicine.

"Ok all done," I say. "Now let's go see if Cody's ready to go."

Jake nods and we go into the cave and see Cody hoisting both bags over his shoulder. "Ready?" I ask him.

"Yeah, let's go," he responds with a smile.

Before we leave the cave I take one of the bags from him. It's not easy with him trying to be a gentleman and saying he can take both but I finally get him to give me one and we head out.

We walk over to Lightning and I watch Cody help Jake on Lightning's back. Then he offers me his hand to help me up but I hold up my hands and shake my head and say, "I'd rather walk right now. It will make it easier for Lightning."

"Ok," Cody responds with a shrug. "I'll walk with you."

"Cody you don't have to," I protest.

"It's fine, Zoe, I'd rather walk too," he explains.

"Ok," I say shrugging my shoulders.

We start walking. Cody and I with the bags on the ground and Jake on Lightning's back. We stay silent while we walk. I still feel like something bad is going to happen but I try and just push it out of my mind.

I think about my parents and wonder what they are doing right now. Most likely they are working out in the fields. Tending the crops and harvesting the apples in the orchard. I wonder if they miss me and Blake as much as I miss them. I really wish they were here helping me through this. But I know they couldn't come. They wouldn't go. They think that all the people that are getting taken are dead. I never even thought about believing that. Especially when Molly went missing.

I think about my mom with her kind smile, long strait, brown hair, her grey eyes and how she is always so kind to people. I also think about my dad with his green eyes, dark hair that is slowing turning grey and his inability to give up on any task he puts at hand.

I can only dream about being like them. They are such kind and determined people. They want what's best for everyone around them. I really wish they were here with me right now. They could encourage me to never give up and to stay strong so that I can help my brother and friend.

I shake my head to try to get these thoughts out of my head. I can't think about my parents right now. If I think about them I will get too emotional and want to go back to them. But I know I can't do that. I have to find Blake and Molly they are what's important right now. I have to believe that my parents are fine right now even though I know they are crushed that Blake and I are gone.

I look over to see Cody looking at me with a strange look.

"What?" I ask him.

He just shakes his head and says, "It's nothing."

"Oh, come on you can tell me," I tell him.

"Seriously Zoe, it's nothing," he says unconvincingly.

"Come on Cody, just tell me," I persist.

"Just drop it Zoe, ok? I can assure you it's nothing," he says with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Please tell me," I say with a smile on my face then I repeatedly say please to try and annoy him into telling me.

"Ok! I'll tell you! Just stop saying please!" he says clearly irritated.

I smile in triumph and listen to what he has to say.

"I was just thinking about how nice you look when something's on your mind," he says as quickly and quietly as he can.

At first I don't understand what he just said and then it clicks. He said I look nice meaning I look pretty or beautiful. Why would he say that? I'm not pretty or beautiful. There's nothing special about me. There's no reason for him to think that. Is there?

"What?" I ask him to make sure I heard him right.

"I said that you look nice," he says quietly again.

"Oh," is all I can say looking away because I know that my face is beat red right now. We stay silent for a while before I am sure that my face isn't red anymore and I look at him and say, "Thanks."

"Only telling the truth," he says still being quiet.

We walk in silence again until Jake asks, "How much longer until we get there?"

"We still have a ways to go Jake," Cody informs him. "We won't get to Sector 3 until twelve and we won't get to the hotel until two."

"But I'm bored," Jake says in a whinny voice.

"Sorry little man you're just going to have to tuff it out," Cody says.

Jake just sighs and nods his head. At least he's listening to us and not complaining all of the time. I don't think I could make it through this trip if that's what he was doing.

For the rest of the trip we stay mostly silent occasionally answering a question from Jake about Lightning or us.

At one point he asks if Cody and I are boyfriend and girlfriend. Cody and I look at each other and our faces go red and we both answer no. Cody says it quietly while I say it more sternly.

At around eleven thirty he asks what Sector we are going to and Cody tell him 3. I guess Cody never told him.

"That's where I used to live," Jake tells us.

"You lived in Sector 3?" I ask him.

"Yeah," he says sadly.

After that we go silent again for the rest of the way to Sector 3. When it comes into view I gasp in horror.

It looks awful.

* * *

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	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Even from a distance Sector 3 looks like a horrible place to live. I can see that the air looks like an odd color of brown. The buildings look in bad condition from here and we are still about a mile away. I don't see any green inside or around the sector either and I can smell a faint rotten odor from here.

I just can't see how these people can live there. Even from this distance I know I wouldn't want to live there. Ever. I probably won't even make it one night.

"Remind me again why we're staying _there _for a night. I'd rather sleep in that cave again," I tell Cody.

"I know it looks bad but you'll get used to it," he tells me. "It's just one night anyways."

I sigh and keep walking. After a while we are about three quarters of a mile away before I think of something.

"What are we going to do with Lightning while we're in there? He can't go in there with us." I say.

"He'll just have to stay outside the sector for a while," Cody responds.

"Ok," I say.

We stay silent the rest of the way. While we're walking I think about Blake and Molly. My biggest fear right now is never seeing them again. What if they're dead? Then what would I do? How would I go to my parents and tell them that Blake is gone forever? Or Molly's parents? But I don't know if they are dead so I can't think that. Right now in my mind they are alive and they will stay that way.

Before we know it we are at the edge of the sector. They smell is a thousand times worse.

"Jake you're going to have to get off Lightning so that we can go in the sector," Cody tells Jake.

Jakes sighs and gets off of Lightning with some help from Cody. I walk over to Lightning and give him a pat on the neck and say, "Don't worry boy, I'll see you tomorrow."

He whinnies and I give him another pat on the neck and turn around.

"Ready?" Cody asks.

Jake and I nod and we head into Sector 3, leaving Lightning behind.

†

We all stay silent as we walk taking in the unkempt sector. The streets are filthy with grime and litter. The buildings are crumbling and broken, some even collapsed. The odor is awful it smells like every fowl smelling thing I can possibly think of mixed together.

For being the sector that provides shelter and fixing buildings for all the sectors they aren't doing a very good job in their home sector.

We turn a corner, stop in front of a beat up building and Cody says, "Ah, here we are."

The building says 'Andy's Bar and Hotel' and is about five stories high and is made out of rotting wood. I count at least six boarded up windows and one big hole in the side of the building.

"This is where we're staying?" I ask Cody skeptically.

"Yep," he replies with a smile like it's the best possible place to stay. Although in this place you never know.

Cody takes Jake's hand and they walk to the door leaving me a few steps behind grumbling, "This is just great."

Cody opens the door for us and we walk in. I am overwhelmed by the awful smell of alcohol, cigarettes and vomit.

Inside is dark and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust and when they do I realize that we are in the bar part of the hotel. There are men and women all drinking and laughing. Some have cigarettes and some are playing games that I have never seen with a table a bunch of colorful balls and sticks.

There's a large crowd of people in the corner cheering and clapping for something in the corner I can't see.

Cody leads us to the bar and we all take a seat. I sit near a man who is looks to be in his twenties and appears very drunk.

"Zoe, Jake, you need anything to eat or drink," Cody asks us pulling out a large wad of cash.

I am hungry but I don't think that eating here is the best idea. I shake my head no while Jake says yes.

Cody calls the bartender over and orders himself and Jake something to eat and drink. After a while the bartender brings them each a hamburger and a drink.

I notice that Cody got some kind of alcoholic drink and Jake got a soda.

"Cody, I don't think that's the best idea," I shout over all the voices and point at his drink.

"Zoe, lighten up, I'm only having one," he shouts back.

I look away and shake my head. I've heard that even one alcoholic drink can make a person's mind fuzzy and with the situation that we are in I don't think it's wise that he is doing this.

I look around in silence as Cody and Jake eat. People all around are laughing and drinking. I see two men by the door get into a drunken fist fight. I watch as one man takes a lazy swing at the others head but ends up falling over and knocking himself out.

I look over at the crowd in the corner as many of them cheer and some of them boo. I still can't see what's going on over there but I think they are gambling on something because I see some of them exchange large wads of cash.

"Zoe," I hear Cody shout over all the noise. I snap my head towards him as he gets up and says, "You want to find out how I made all of that money?"

Oh, right. I forgot about that after everything. He told me he would show me how he made it all when we got here.

"Sure," I say and hop off my stool. I help Jake off of his and grab his hand making sure he doesn't get lost.

Cody leads us over to the large crowd in the corner. He stops on the edge of the crowd and starts explaining what's going on. Basically, I was right it is gambling. They are gambling on fights.

"I don't make my money through gambling," Cody says and smirks when I give him a confused face. "I win it by fighting."

"What?" I ask confused at how he makes money by fighting.

"The winner of the fight also wins money," he explains.

I make an 'O' shape with my mouth telling him I understand now and he says, "You want to watch?"

Jake vigorously nods his head with a big grin and wide eyes and I just shrug.

We push our way through the crowd and end up seeing the end of a fight with two very large men without shirts. The man that won has huge muscles, tattoos all over his body and a very mean look to him. The man that lost is on the floor unconscious with a bloody nose and his shoulder is sticking out at an odd angle. Two men drag him out of the ring as the gamblers exchange money.

"Who's next!" the man that won yells with a malicious grin on his face as he flexes his huge muscles.

"I am!" Cody says stepping into the ring. Everyone laughs as Cody says this because the man in the middle is almost three times bigger than him.

I step in front of Cody and say, "You can't Cody! He's like three times as big as you! He'll crush you!"

"Zoe, size doesn't always matter in these things," he responds only loud enough for me to hear.

"Listen to the girl kid!" someone from the crowd yells. "These fights ain't for kids!"

Cody pushes past me and heads to the center of the ring and stands in front of the large man.

"Cody!" I yell at him trying to get him back over here as people make their bets.

He looks at me and gives me one of his mischievous smirks. I cross my arms over my chest and frown at him. This guy is going to kill him.

A bell rings and the fight begins.

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

As soon as the bell rings Cody's opponent takes a hard swing at Cody with his fist. Surprisingly Cody easily dodges the punches by sucking and then he kicks the man's side causing the man to stumble back a couple of steps.

The crowd gasps in shock while I stand there frozen. Cody punches the man in the face then quickly punches him in the stomach. The man throws a couple of blind swings at him but Cody is too fast and easily dodges them.

As quickly as the match started, it is ended with Cody giving the man a hard punch to the temple.

I stand there in shock with the rest of the crowd. The man didn't hit Cody once. He didn't get a single punch or kick.

Cody walks over to Jake and me with a victorious grin on his face.

"I told you size doesn't matter," he tells me.

I just stand there looking at him in shock. After a while Cody waves his hand in front of my face.

"You ok, Zoe? You look kind of shocked," he says with a smirk on his face. "What you didn't think I was good enough to beat that guy?"

"How did you do that Cody?" I ask him.

"They taught me in Sector 4," he replies his smirk fading.

"Hey, kid!" someone yells. "It's time for the next fight!"

"That's my cue," Cody says. He gives me one more smirk before going back into the ring.

After that he wins every fight. I get bored of watching and decide to go back to the bar to get some water.

"Jake you stay here. I'm going back to the bar," I tell an excited Jake as he watches Cody beat the crap out of another person. "Make sure Cody can see you at all times. You know what to do if something happens right?"

"Yeah, yeah," he says not really paying attention to me.

I sigh and head back to the bar. I sit down next to the same guy I was next to before and ask the bartender for a water.

A couple minutes pass and the man next to me turns to me.

"So," he says to me. "Can I buy you a drink?" Right when he says that the bartender brings me my water and the man frowns.

"My name's Mike," he says holding out his hand for me to shake.

I take his hand and say, "Zoe."

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he says with a flirtatious smile.

"Thanks," I say giving him a skeptical look.

"So, what happened to your little _boyfriend_ and that kid that were sitting with you earlier?" he asks me. He says boyfriend like Cody is a complete joke.

"Ok, first off he is _not_ my boyfriend," I tell him and that makes him get a gleam in his eyes. "Second they are over there at the fights." I point to the crowd in the corner.

"Oh, well in that case why don't you and I go up to my room and get to know each other a little better?" he says with a smirk.

Before I can answer him he leans into me and puts his lips on mine. I try to push him off but he has ahold of my shoulders and I can't move. He starts to bite my lips as I continue struggling. Then all of the sudden one of his hands moves from my shoulder to my butt and he pulls me closer to him making it harder for me to struggle.

Suddenly he is wrenched off of me and I immediately wipe off my mouth. Then I hear a bar stool fall over and a glass break and look over to see Cody punching Mike as hard as he can.

Cody has a look of hatred in his eyes as he says, "Don't you _ever _touch her _again_!"

Cody continues punching him even after the Mike falls unconscious. Once I regain my composure I go over to Cody who is still beating the man and put my hand on his shoulder and say, "Cody that's enough."

Cody looks up at me and his eyes soften. He gets up from the ground and surprises me with a hug. I feel him shaking as he tightens his hold on me. I wrap my arms around him to try and calm him down and give him a reassurance that I am ok.

"Are you ok?" he asks me into my hair.

"Cody, I'm fine," I tell him into his chest. "He didn't hurt me. He just shook me up a little."

He lets me go from the hug and says, "I think we should go up to our room now."

"Yeah, probably," I say.

We find Jake standing off to the side and we go through a door that leads to a stair case and climb the stairs. We weave through the halls until we come to a door with the number twenty two on it.

Cody takes out a key that I didn't know he had and unlocks the door letting us in.

The room is just as dirty and smelly as everything else in this sector. There are two beds each with a lamp next to them and there is a mirror on the wall across from the beds and a window with a large window sill that can probably hold two people and there is a small door leading to the bathroom.

I set my bag down on one of the beds and head to the bathroom. I notice there is a shower so I go back out and grab some clothes and tell the boys that I am going to take a shower. Luckily they provided us with soap and shampoo.

Once I'm in the shower I start to think about all that is going on. About Blake and Molly and how they could be dead for all I know. I think about mom and dad back home mourning the disappearance of Blake and me. I think of Lightning outside of the sector right now. I think about all the people I love and just pray that they are alright.

After a while the water turns cold and I realize that I am done washing up and can get out of the shower. I turn it off and dry myself then I put my clothes on and step out of the bathroom still rubbing my hair to try and dry it off some more.

"Hey, Zoe, you want to play?" Jake asks me the minute I step out of the bathroom.

I notice that he and Cody are playing some card game on one of the beds. I don't know where they got the cards from and I don't really want to play so I say no and sit down on the other bed and grab my brush and start brushing my hair.

I grab some crackers out of my bag and start eating those as Cody puts the card game away because Jake was starting to fall asleep. Cody puts the cards in a drawer next to the bed and Jake crawls under the covers of the bed and falls asleep.

I finish off the crackers and get up to throw them away in the trash bin by the door. Then I go back to see Cody looking through drawers.

"What are you doing?" I ask him as he finds a blanket in one of the drawers and pulls it out.

"I'm setting up a bed for me on the floor," he tells me while spreading out the blanket on the floor.

"Cody, you don't have to sleep on the floor you can sleep in a bed too." I tell him. "We can just share one."

"Really, I'm fine sleeping on the floor," he tells me.

"Cody, I'm serious just get in the bed," I say and grab his hand pulling him to the bed.

"Ok, but won't it be really awkward?" he asks me with a smirk.

"As long as you stay on your side and I stay on my side it shouldn't be awkward," I tell him and walk over to the other side of the bed and climb in.

Cody turns off all of the lights and soon I find myself falling asleep.

†

_I watch as Blake and Molly are tied to the chair in an all-white room. They both look terrified and each have bruises and cuts all over them. I see a faceless man walk into the room with a white lab coat on._

_Then a table appears between Blake and Molly's chairs with a knives and guns on it. The faceless man picks up one of the knives and starts cutting into Molly's arms making her scream in pain. _

_I try to go over and help her but I am stuck in one spot and I can't move. The man moves to Blake once Molly is bloody all over and he does the same exact thing he did to Molly to Blake._

_I watch in horror as Blake screams and tears stream down his face. _

_"Zoe! Help us please!" he cries. "Why are you just standing there letting this happen?"_

_Now tears are streaming down my face as the man finishes cutting Blake and leaves him just as bloody as Molly. The man then puts the knife down and grabs two guns from the table. He points them at both of the heads and smiles at me._

_He them pulls the trigger on both guns and I scream, "NO!"_

†

I shoot up in bed with tears streaming down my face. I am shaking from the dream and every time I blink I see the man shooting Blake and Molly.

_It was just a dream, _I think to myself. _They're not dead._

I look over at the clock and see that it reads 12:23 am. I throw the covers off of me careful not to wake Cody up and head to the bathroom. I look in the mirror and see that my eyes are wide and tears are still streaming down my face. I turn on the sink and splash my face trying to calm myself down.

I turn off the sink and lean against the wall slowly sliding to the floor. I hit the floor with a thud and pull my knees to my chest trying to contain a sob that is threatening to come out.

I put my head on my knees as the sob comes out. Tears blur my vision and soon I am full out crying. I try not to make much noise so that I don't wake Cody and Jake but I can't seem to be quiet.

After a while the sobs go away but the tears keep streaming. I decide to leave the bathroom and I go over to the window sill and take a seat pulling my knees to my chest and looking out the window.

I can't see much through all the tears but I try to look past the sector at the wilderness beyond. Hoping, praying that Blake and Molly are ok.

"Zoe?" someone whispers from one of the beds. I look over a try to see who it is through my tears and the darkness. I make out the faint outline of Cody.

He gets out of bed and comes over to me and sits down across from me on the window sill. He studies my face for a second then asks, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," I say trying to wipe away the tears but only managing to spread them around on my face.

"Really, cause you don't look fine to me," he says in a concerned voice.

I sigh and look down at my hands which are resting on my knees, and then I say, "I'm just worried."

"About your brother and your friend?" he asks.

I nod my head as more tears come streaming out and I fight back a sob.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks me with concern.

I shake my head no and try to fight back another sob but fail. I manage to keep it quiet enough to not wake up Jake.

Cody comes over to the side I'm on and sits next to me and wraps his arms around me. At first I hesitate but then I wrap my arms around him and cry into his shoulder.

We sit there for what feels like hours. Me crying into his shoulder while he holds me protectively. After a while I finally run out of tears and I start to calm down.

I pull out of his embrace and lean back on the window while he watches me trying to read my face.

"I remember when we were younger," I whisper to Cody. "Blake and I snuck into the orchard and started climbing trees to see who could get the highest. I was almost at the top when Blake stopped and said he was too scared to go any higher. I made fun of him for being a chicken and then I kept climbing. I kept climbing to the top but a branch snapped under my foot and I started to fall. I grabbed a branch and held on as best I could. I couldn't reach one with my feet so I was dangling. Right when my grip slipped from the branch Blake got to me and grabbed my arm so I wouldn't fall. He got me to a branch I could reach and we climbed down together. Ever since that day Blake's been extremely overprotective of me. He tells me to stop when he thinks I'm going to fall out of a tree or he yells at me every time Molly and I sneak out at night. He can be annoying but I really love him and I don't want to lose him."

"I understand," he tells me after listening to me. "I have a sister that I had to leave behind. By now she's fourteen years old and I really miss her. Ever since I left I worry that my dad is hurting her in some way," he tells me.

I didn't know he had a sister. I figured he was an only child. But now I know that he understands what I'm going through. He worries every day that his sister is being hurt. That's how I feel right now. I worry that Blake and Molly are being hurt.

I grab his hand and intertwine my fingers with his letting him know I understand. He gives me a weak lopsided smile then leans closer and closer to me until his lips collide with mine.

I am frozen in shock for a moment then I take my free arm and wrap it behind the back of his neck and deepen the kiss feeling electricity course through me.

After a few minutes we pull apart and look into each other's eyes. Then we both look away and resume our previous position. He watches out the window while I stare at the wall trying to figure out what just happened.

We just _kissed! _Cody and I just kissed! And the weird thing is I _liked _kissing him and I kind of want to do it again! What is going on with me?!

All of the sudden Cody jumps up and says, "Shit!" I look at him confused and then he says, "Look outside." And then he runs over and starts packing our bags.

I look outside and see about twenty men walking up to the building with large guns in their hands.

* * *

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	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The second I see those men I jump up and run to Jake's bed to wake him up.

"Jake!" I say loudly, "Jake! You need to get up right now!"

He slowly opens his eyes and I explain what's going on. He jumps out of bed and I go to help Cody pack our things.

"What are we going to do?" I ask Cody. "It looks like they have the building surrounded!"

"I have a plan just follow me," he says.

I grab Jake's hand and Cody grabs mine and we run out of the room. We head for the stairs and I expect us to go down stairs but Cody leads us up.

"Cody, where are we going?" I ask him.

"To the roof," he says. Then he looks back at me and sees my skeptical face and adds, "You're just going to have to trust me."

I don't understand why we're going to roof but I have to trust him.

Jake starts to slow down so I say to Cody, "We have to slow down, Cody. Jake's not as fast as us."

Cody quickly stops, let's go of my hand and says, "Jake get on my back."

He quickly bends down so that Jake can get on his back and then we continue to run up the stairs to the roof.

A few minutes later we are on the roof and Cody is looking around.

"I thought you had a plan?" I say to him.

"I do just hold on," he says running over to the edge of the roof and looking at the building adjacent to the one we are on. "Zoe, do you think you can make this jump?" he asks me.

My eyes widen and finally I realize what his plan is. He wants us to jump to the next building. The closest building to this one is at least five feet away and we are about five stories up.

"Cody, we can't do this!" I say starting to panic.

"Zoe, please just trust me! We can do this! It's the only way out!" he says to me.

I look back at the door realizing that the men are probably almost here. Cody's way seems to be the only way out.

"Ok, let's do this," I say and get up on the ledge of the roof. Cody steps up too with Jake still on his back. We take each other's hands and I say, "On three."

"One," he says.

"Two," I say tightening my grip on his hand.

"Three!" we say together just as we hear the men open the door onto the roof and we jump.

I feel weightless as I fly through the air. It's amazing! But it ends all too soon when my feet hit the ground on the other roof. A sharp pain runs up my legs when I hit the pavement and I fall forward letting go of Cody's hand.

My elbows and knees scrape the cement. I sit up and look around. I see both Cody and Jake sitting on the ground smiling.

Suddenly I hear a gun shot and a bullet hits the ground right next to my hand. I look over at the roof we just jumped from and see three men all with their guns pointed at me.

"Jake! Now!" Cody yells at him in a panicked voice.

Suddenly the three men shoot and I close my eyes waiting for the end. Waiting for three bullets to pierce me and kill me.

But they never do.

I slowly open my eyes and see the three bullets directly in front of me froze in midair.

My eyes widen and I look over at Jake to see him trying to concentrate to freeze time. Cody pulls me out of the bullets path and Jake unfreezes the time. I notice that after stopping time like that he is very tired. We all run to the door and Cody opens it ushering us inside and we run down the stairs and out the building.

"Where do we go now?" I ask as we run down the street.

"We need to find a place to hide," Cody says. Then he leads us down a dead end ally. There's a dumpster near the wall and Cody runs up to it.

"Here get in," he says, opening the lid.

I help Jake in, and then I get in myself followed by Cody who closes the lid after him.

We all sit quietly in the dumpster not daring to make a sound. Soon we hear footsteps and men faintly talking. I hear two pairs of footsteps come into the ally where we're hiding and start to panic. My breathing quickens and my heart rate goes up. Cody notices me panicking and grabs my hand to comfort me.

The footsteps are right outside the dumpster now and I tighten my grip on Cody's hand. The footsteps stop right in front of the dumpster and I think that they are going to find us.

I hear feet shuffling and then they leave. I sigh and relax my ridged muscles.

"What do we do now?" I whisper.

"We have to stay here for a while," Cody responds in a quiet voice. "They're going to be looking for us for a while and if we leave this spot they will most likely find us."

I sigh and lean my head back against the back of the dumpster. Now that my adrenaline isn't pumping anymore I realize that it is freezing out and all I'm wearing is a pair of shorts and a thin t-shirt. I wrap my arms around myself trying to keep warm and soon I start to shiver.

Cody must realize I'm cold because he wraps his arm around me and hugs me to his body. I realize that he and Jake are both wearing long sleeve shirts and pants.

Soon I hear Jake's breathing slow and I realize that he has fallen asleep. I don't blame him for falling asleep. He looked really tired after he stopped time to save me.

And then I think, _Jake saved me! He saved my life!_ He's only seven years old and he saved my life.

I lean my head on Cody's shoulder and snuggle up to him some more trying to keep warm.

He kisses my forehead and says, "Go to sleep, Zoe. I'll make sure they don't find us."

"I can't," I say, shaking my head. "Not after having that dream."

"What dream?" he asks me, confused.

Oh, right, I didn't tell him about that. So, I explain to him that that was the reason I was up and what it was about.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" he asks me.

"I didn't want to talk about it then," I say, and then I add. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize, Zoe," he tells me. "I understand that you didn't want to talk about it."

We stay silent for a while and then he asks, "Did it mean anything to you?"

"Did what mean anything to me?" I ask him, confused.

"The kiss," he says avoiding eye contact.

The kiss? Ooooh! _The kiss! _I almost completely forgot about that after everything that happened.

"Yeah, it did mean something to me," I tell him in a serious voice reaching out and grabbing his hand. "Did it mean anything to you?"

"Yeah, it really did," he responds in a quiet voice intertwining our fingers together.

He looks down at me and I look up from our entwined hands at him. He brings his hand up to my face and pulls me to him and our lips meet.

I feel that electricity again and it feels really good. Both of our breathing quickens as we deepen the kiss. My heart starts beating a mile a minute and I press myself closer to Cody if that's even possible.

After a while we break apart and when I come back to my senses I realize that I am sitting on his lap with my arms wrapped around his neck and his arms are around my waist.

Then I realize something else and start to laugh a little.

"What are you laughing at?" Cody asks me with a hurt look on his face.

"Oh, no, I'm not laughing at you!" I say quickly. "I'm laughing at the situation we're in. We are camping out in a dumpster hiding from people who want to kill us and we're kissing with a little kid sleeping right next to us!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he says starting to laugh too. "We are in kind of a weird situation."

We laugh for a while and then I start to get really tired. I rest my head on Cody's chest and relax into his strong embrace. He kisses my forehead and then rests his chin on top of my head. Soon I find myself falling asleep in his warm embrace.

* * *

I jump awake to the sound of loud crash. I look over to see that Jake and Cody were awakened by it to.

"What was that?" I sleepily ask.

"I don't know," Cody answers, drowsily.

I look around and realize it must be morning because through a few holes in the dumpster sunlight is streaming through.

"Do you think it's safe to get out of this thing?" I ask, getting off of Cody's lap and peering through one of the holes.

I see that the ally is empty other than a stray dog digging through a fallen garbage can. Well, I guess that explains the loud crash.

"Yeah, I'd say it's probably safe to leave," Cody responds to my question.

He slowly opens the lid to the dumpster. He then helps me out and then lift Jake up and over the wall of the dumpster. Then he climbs out himself.

We all stretch out our sore muscles and then we walk out of the ally. We walk around the sector for a while trying to reorient ourselves from last night.

We are in the middle of the sector now so we have quite a bit of walking to do today.

We walk in silence for most of the day only stopping to take short rests for food and water.

I watch as Cody starts joking around with Jake. I feel bad for Jake. He's already been through so much and he's only seven. His parents died, his adoptive family is abusive and now he's going to Sector 4 to help us save my brother and Molly.

Suddenly Cody stops directly in front of me, making me run into him, hitting my nose on his shoulder blade.

I rub my nose and say, "Why'd you stop?"

"Because I forgot that I still have to pay that guy," he responds.

"Oh," I say. "How are you going to find him?"

"He gave me his address just in case something like this happened," he answers. He then leads us off in the direction of the man's house.

"Why is it so important we do this now? Can't it wait?" I ask getting frustrated that we have to waste more time.

"I promised to give it to him today. If I didn't pay him today he would hunt me down and kill me," Cody answers then knocks on the door.

We wait for a few minutes and then someone opens the door.

A man with hard eye opens the door and scowls at us. He looks at Cody and a hint of recognition plays on his face.

Then he looks at Jake and me and frowns, then he says in a deep, raspy voice, pointing to Cody, "You. Come inside. The other two can stay out here."

I look at Cody, unsure if this is a good idea but he just steps inside as the man moves out of his way to let him in. But before the door closes Cody looks at me and gives me a reassuring smile.

Jake and I go over to the yard and sit down. While Jake looks through our bags for some food to snack on, I anxiously pull the dead grass out of the ground waiting for Cody to return.

About fifteen minutes later I start to hear some yelling coming from inside. I stand up and try to listen to what they're saying but I can't make it out.

After a while of yelling the door opens and I see two men walk out towards me and Jake. I didn't realize there was more people inside.

Both of the men grab one of my elbows each and yank me forward.

"Hey!" I say struggling to get away from them.

"Zoe!" Jake says running after me as the men drag me to the house.

"Stay out here Jake," I instruct him.

Instead of listening to me he catches up to us and starts hitting and kicking the men trying to get them off of me. One of the men gets annoyed with him and lets go of my arm to shove Jake to the ground.

"Leave him alone!" I yell and stomp my foot on the other man's foot. When he lets go of my arm to nurse his foot I take the opportunity to elbow the other guy in the nose as hard as I can. I hear a loud crunch sound and blood starts flowing from his nose.

"Hey!" someone yells from the doorway. I turn around to see the man that answered the door pointing a gun at me. "Put your hands on your head and slowly come inside!"

I do as I'm told and make my way to the door. Once I'm there the man presses the gun to my back and ushers me inside.

It takes a second for my eyes to adjust but when they do I look around the room and see Cody tied to a chair with a bloody nose and a tall man with blonde hair stands next to him. The room is dark, the only light coming from the small fire place. I notice that there's not much furniture other than a couple of chairs and a small table.

I am placed in a chair next to Cody with my hands and feet tied to the chair. I look over at Cody and give him a questioning look.

Before he can answer me the man that was standing next to Cody starts talking.

"I told you six thousand," he says to Cody. "You're going to get me that six thousand or you little girlfriend here gets to see what happens when I don't get what I want." He walks over to me and gives me a malicious smile

Now I'm confused. Why does this man want six thousand dollars from Cody? Cody told me all he owed was six hundred, so why is the man saying six thousand? Plus six thousand dollars is a ridiculous price for a gun and some ammo.

"I swear if you touch her I am going to kill you, you bastard," Cody threatens in a deadly quiet voice.

The man lets out a mocking laugh and says, "I won't hurt her if you provide me with the money you promised me."

"I promised six hundred and that's what I gave you," Cody says.

"No," the man says. "You promised me six thousand."

"Why would I promise you six thousand for a gun and ammo?" Cody asks in a frustrated voice. "That's a stupid deal."

"A stupid deal made by a stupid boy," the man says making him and the other three men laugh.

"You're the stupid one if you think you're going to get away with this," I spit out at him.

"Oh, but I _have_ gotten away with it," he says putting his face inches away from mine. "We made a deal and the boy broke it so now he has to watch you suffer."

He unties me left arm and holds my arm so tight that I will have a bad bruise there. He motions to two of the men and Cody yells at them to stop and let me go as they pick up my chair and place it in front of the fire place.

Then as I struggle to get my arm out of his grip he thrusts my hand forward so that my hand is in the fire.

I scream as the fire engulfs my hand and blinding pain courses into my veins.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Tears stream down my face as the pain intensifies. I scream as I try to pull my hand out but the man's hold on my arm is too strong.

"NO!" Cody screams as the man holds my hand in the fire.

After what feels like hours of intense pain but was probably only fifteen to thirty seconds the man pulls my hand out of the fire and lets go of my arm.

I hold my hand to my body as tears drip down my cheeks.

"Now, are you going to give us the money or is your girlfriend going to have to go through that again?" the man asks Cody.

"I don't have the money!" Cody says, clearly panicking now.

"Well then, boys untie her other hand," he says and then two of men start to untie my other hand. I try to hit them with my free hand but it hurts even when I move it the slightest bit making more tears stream from my eyes.

"No! Stop!" Cody yells. "I'll get you the money you want if you give me more time!"

The man holds up his hand, signaling the men to stop what they're doing. They stop trying to untie me and listen as the man says, "I already gave you plenty of time to get that money."

Suddenly I get a terrible headache and bend over from the pain feeling like I'm going to pass out. Then all of the sudden sparks fly out of the fire and into the man's eyes. He screams in pain as the other men go to try to help him. As the men reach him the fire explodes causing the floor next to me to catch on fire.

I scream trying to get away from the fire but I can't move the chair being tied up like this.

"Zoe!" I hear Cody say. He's on the other side of the fire trying to break free of his restraints.

I see all of the men cowering in the corner of the room by the fire as the man that was talking lies at their feet holding his hands over his eyes.

Suddenly the door bursts open and Jake runs in.

"Jake!" I say. "Come untie us!" I say to him still trying to move my chair away from the fire.

Jake runs over to me and starts untying my uninjured hand. Then he unties my feet and I stand up and run to Cody's aid. I struggle to untie the knots with only one hand and but I finally manage to untie his hands and let him untie his feet.

He stands up and we run out of the house all coughing and our eyes burning from the smoke. I put my injured hand to my chest and grab my bag with the other and we all run down the street as other people come out of their houses and see the fire.

After a couple blocks of running I have to stop because every step I take jolts my hand and causes me intense pain

I sit down on the ground leaning my back against a building as I hug my hand to my body. Cody comes over and crouches in front of me. He gently takes my arm where it's not burnt and examines it. My hand is blistered and read all over stopping just past the wrist.

He inspects it for a while, and then instructs Jake to get the first-aid kit.

Jake quickly searches through the bags and pulls out the first-aid kit and hands it to Cody. Cody searches through it for a while until he finds the burn medicine.

He squeezes the medicine onto his hand and then slowly moves it towards my injury. I brace myself knowing that the medicine is going to make it hurt at first.

As he applies the medicine I wince as the pain intensifies but soon the pain diminishes to the point where I only feel a little pain.

"Shouldn't we wrap it?" I ask him in a raspy voice from screaming and the all smoke I inhaled.

"It's best to let it breath so it heals faster," Cody says in an equally as raspy voice as mine. He looks at my hand and then looks away with a look of disgust and anger on his face.

"What's wrong?" I ask him and stand up to stand in front of him.

"This is all my fault," he says looking down at me with sad eyes. "If I would have just had the money you wouldn't be hurt."

"This is not your fault. Those guys cheated you. You had the money." I tell him in a stern voice then I add, "Plus this is me we're talking about. I'm prone to injury. Whether it's falling up the stairs or cutting myself making dinner."

I see the corners of his mouth twitch up a little at my small joke. Then he takes my uninjured hand into his and we stand there a second before we continue walking to the edge of the sector to find Lightning.

It takes us about another hour to get there and find Lightning.

When we find him I let go of Cody's hand and hug him.

"Hey boy," I say to him like he can understand me. "A lot has happened since we last saw each other yesterday."

Jake runs up and wraps his arms around Lightning as much as he can. He seems to really like Lightning. I smile as Lightning whinnies and Jake laughs.

"We should go," Cody says walking up to us.

I nod and help Jake up onto Lightning. Then I hoist myself on behind him and then Cody gets on after me.

I know we shouldn't all be on Lightning making him carry all three of us but right now I just want to rest because I am exhausted from everything that has happened.

As we ride I notice that Cody is being really quiet and not being his usual self. I turn my head to look at him and see him staring into the trees with a frown on his face.

"Something wrong?" I ask him.

He gives his head a little shake a turns his attention to me and says, "No, just thinking."

"About what?" I ask and turn my body so that I am facing Cody and riding backwards on Lightning.

"Everything pretty much," he answers.

I nod my head and look into the trees. Then I ask him, "When are we going to be arriving in Sector 4?"

"Probably tomorrow, late afternoon, I think," he responds.

His answer makes my stomach twist. Tomorrow I might have Blake and Molly back. I might get to go home.

But the thing that upsets me is that I only _might _be able to do these things. If I get caught trying to get them out or something happens I will be in the same position as them. Held prisoner or tortured or killed. I want to be excited about this and a small part of me is but a bigger part of me is dreading it. I don't know what's going to happen. We could get killed, we could get captured, or Blake and Molly could be dead. There are so many risks we are taking for doing this.

But finding Blake and Molly is worth the risk. They don't deserve to have any of this happen to them. They are good people. I know they would do this for me if our roles were reversed. They would try to help me in risk of being caught or killed.

"Zoe," Cody says, bringing my attention back to him. "You ok?"

"Yeah," I say not telling him what I'm thinking. "Just a little tired."

"Then you should turn around and get some sleep," he tells me with a smile.

I nod and do as he says and turn around. Then I lean back against his chest and he wraps his arms around me and holds my uninjured hand in his. I rest my head back on him and find myself falling asleep.

†

"Zoe. Hey, Zoe, wake up," someone says, pulling me out of my slumber.

I sigh in annoyance and keep my eyes closed. I hear someone chuckle right next to my ear and I keep my eyes closed and try to go back to sleep.

"Zoe, come on you should wake up," they say.

Reluctantly I slowly open my eyes and see that I am in the same position I was when I fell asleep. I notice that Lightning has stopped walking and seems tired.

"I figured Lightning was getting pretty tired," Cody says.

I nod and slowly move so that I am not leaning on Cody anymore. He gets off Lightning and helps Jake off and then I get off and when my feet hit the ground I almost fall on my face but Cody catches me.

"Thanks," I tell him and straighten myself. My legs are really sore and I am still really tired.

Cody nods and we start walking again. As I look around I notice that the sun is starting to go down. I guess I was out longer than I thought.

We continue to walk for about an hour until we come to a stream and Cody says, "Why don't we stop here for the night."

"Sure," I say and drop my bag on the ground.

Lightning gets a nice long drink at the stream and then goes over to graze as Cody and I look for some wood to start a fire and Jake sits down to rest.

Once we've gathered enough wood we make a spot for the fire and Cody lights it with a match.

I get some food out and heat it over the fire for us all. We all stay silent while the food heats up. When it's done I take it off the fire and hand it to the boys.

We all finish eating and sit watching the fire. I look over at Cody and realize just how tired he is. He hasn't slept in a while and the sleep he has gotten hasn't been enough for him.

"Why don't you go to sleep, Cody," I tell him. "I can take the night watch."

"No, it's ok, I'm fine," he replies.

I don't listen. Instead I gently throw my pack at him with my uninjured hand for him to use as a pillow and I say, "Sleep."

He doesn't argue anymore knowing that I will not take no for an answer. Instead he looks at me, gives me a small smile and lies down. I soon hear him lightly snoring and I know that he has fallen asleep.

I stare into the fire thinking about how we are going to get Blake and Molly out of Sector 4. I still haven't come up with a plan and that worries me. I know I can't just walk in, grab them and walk back out. I really wish I could but I can't. But the main thing that worries me is what is happening to them. Are they hurt, dead or are they just locked up in a cell somewhere? I don't know.

"Zoe?" Jake says, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look at him across the fire and see that he looks upset and almost on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong, Jake?" I ask as I stand up and walk around the fire to sit next to him.

"I was just wondering what is going to happen when this is all over," he says, staring down at his feet. "I don't want to go back to Sector 3 with my adoptive parents and you're going to have your brother and friend back. And you'll have Cody."

"To tell you the truth Jake, I don't know what's going to happen when this is all over. I don't know if we will get them out and I don't even know if we'll get out of Sector 4 ourselves. And I want you to know that I would never let you go back to Sector 3 to live with those people and neither would Cody. But we'll figure something out."

When I finish talking we are both silent for a while until Jake wraps his arms around me in a hug. I hesitate at first but I soon wrap my arms around him too.

"Thank you, Zoe," he says into my hair. "For everything you've done for me."

I don't know what to say so I just don't say anything at all. After a while we release each other and go back to being silent.

I stare down at my feet thinking about Jake and about how even though I've only known him for a short time he is like a little brother to me. He's part of my family.

* * *

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	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

I stare into the darkness of the woods as I wait out the night watch while Cody and Jake sleep. I'm guessing that it's around three in the morning so I still have a few more hours before they wake up.

I listen to the peaceful night sounds. The crickets chirping, the owls hooting, the wind blowing through the trees and the stream flowing. It all puts me into a peaceful trance and I briefly forget about the dangers I am facing. I forget about Blake and Molly and how I might not save them. That I could be captured tortured and killed by tomorrow.

Suddenly a piercing pain shoots through my head making me feel like I'm being stabbed. I wince and touch my uninjured hand to my forehead. I don't know what to do so try to stand up and walk to Cody to wake him up but when I try I get dizzy and fall over.

I see movement by the stream and look over to see some of the water rising into the air, like there an invisible bucket holding it up.

I forget about the pain in my head and blink a few times trying to process what's happening but I just can't. I must be hallucinating. I have to be. Water can't do that. This is impossible.

Suddenly the pain in my head intensifies and the stream of water comes flying past me and it splashes all over Cody, making him wake up and yell, "What the hell!"

Suddenly all of the pain in my head disappears and I collapse to the ground shaking and out of breath.

"Zoe!" Cody says and comes running over to me. When he reaches me he looks at me with worried eyes and asks, "Zoe, what happened?"

I shake my head and try to sit up but I end up falling back down. Seeing that I can't do it myself Cody helps me sit up. I don't know what happened. The other times I had a headache like that it didn't take that much energy out of me.

"What happened?" he asks again.

"I- I don't know," I say. "I was just sitting here and all of the sudden I got a really bad headache and I was dizzy and then this stream of water rose into the air out of the creek and it flew by me and dropped onto you."

Cody looks at me skeptically and I say, "I don't know if what I saw was a hallucination. It seems like it should have been but look at you! You're drenched! It couldn't ha—"

"Zoe, calm down!" Cody says cutting me off. I notice that I have been clutching his wrist so hard that my knuckles are white and his wrist is starting to bruise. I release my iron grip on his wrist and he says, "Take a deep breath."

I do as he says and it helps me to calm down a little. Then I say, "Cody, I'm telling you something is wrong with me. I've been getting the terrible headaches and along with them come these weird events that should not happen!"

"What kind of weird things?" he asks me with a look on his face that I cannot read.

"Well," I start. "When I got the first one I guess nothing really happened other than the wind picking up. Then when I got the next one the fire exploded. The third one the same thing happened and now this!"

"Sounds like what happened to me," I hear from the other side of the fire. Cody and I both look up to see Jake sitting up. We both thought he was still asleep. "You really thought I would sleep through all the noise?" Jake says with a smirk.

"What do you mean, sounds like what happened to you?" I ask him confused.

Jake gets up and walks over to us saying, "The headaches. Weird things happening. That's what happened to me when I first started being able to control time."

I just stare at him confused and not wanting to believe him. This shouldn't be happening. I'm not like Jake. I don't have any special abilities. I'm _normal_!

"When it first started happening," Jake says. "I got terrible headaches and time just… stopped. I was scared and didn't know what was happening. It continued to happen until I learned to control. I didn't use it much other than to get away from the beatings. But then I got caught by those people and they explained the basics of the ability. They told me I was very powerful and that I could freeze time, fast-forward it, or rewind it. I have never tried going forward or backward in time though. They said it takes a lot of concentration and energy."

I just sit there barely comprehending what he's saying because I feel like I will pass out from exhaustion any second. What he said happened to him does sound like what's happening to me. But I still don't want to believe it.

I see Cody look at me through the corner of my eye and I realize I must look awful because he frowns and says, "Jake I think that's enough for tonight."

Jake looks at me then back at Cody and nods and walks back over to where he was sleeping.

I close my eyes and take a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm myself down. But it doesn't work. Tears fill my eyes but I refuse to let them fall. Crying won't do anything to solve this. I can't be weak. I'm not weak.

I hear Cody sigh to my left and look over to see him rubbing his face with his hands. I lightly touch his arm and he looks up at me with tired eyes.

"You should go change before you get sick," I tell him.

He nods and does as I say. He gets up and goes to his bag to grab some dry cloths. Then he takes off his shirt and wrings out some of the water. I can't help but stare. He is more muscular then I originally thought. I continue to stare until he turns and I can see the awful scares his father gave him. I look away and feel ashamed for staring.

I stare off into the forest and my mind goes blank until I hear Cody sits down next to me. I look over at him and give him a halfhearted smile.

He smiles back and says, "Why don't you get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

"I'm fine," I say, just now realizing how raspy my voice sounds. "I really don't think I can sleep with everything that's going on." I don't say that even though I am so exhausted I couldn't sleep because I don't want to worry him anymore.

He nods his head in understanding and I lay down to look at the stars. Cody does the same and I ask him if he knows any constellations.

"No," he replies. "I guess I never really watch the stares."

"I used to watch them all the time with my parents and Blake," I say. "My parents taught us a few like the small dipper, big dipper and Orion" I point and outline each of the constellations I name. "Orion has always been my favorite. My mom told me a story about how there was an actual man named Orion who did great things and when he died he was made into a constellation."

As I say this I think about my parents and about how much I miss them, about how much they must miss me and Blake.

I sigh and sit up, bringing my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

Cody sits up too and asks, "What's wrong."

"I just miss them," I say. "My mom, my dad, Blake and Molly. I miss them a lot."

"I understand," he says. "I left my sister behind and every day I regret it. I miss her so much."

"What's her name?" I ask him, trying to get my mind off my family.

"Andy," he answers. "She's the sweetest, funniest person I know."

"You know what," I say. "Maybe when all of this is over you could go see her sometime. Maybe she'll even want to come with you."

He just shakes his head and says, "I can't."

"Why not? You could avoid your parents," I say.

"It's complicated," is all he says.

This confuses me but I don't ask him what he means. I can tell by the way he said it that he didn't want to talk about it. Instead I rest my head on his shoulder and close my eyes.

I soon find myself dozing off. No longer thinking about everything that has happened since Molly disappeared.

I wake up to someone shaking my shoulder. I slowly open my eyes to see Cody standing over me and the sun shining bright.

"Hey," Cody says with a kind smile on his face.

"Hey," I say back, smiling back.

"I figured I should wake you up so we could get going," he says making my smile fade. I've been both dreading and looking forward to this day. Today is the day we either get Blake and Molly out of that place or get taken into it ourselves.

I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. I stand and go over to my bag to change into some cleaner close because I have been wearing these for a couple days now. But when I unzip my bag I look at my hands and my eyes widen and my mouth drops open in surprise.

My hand is almost completely healed.

The burnt and blistered skin that was there yesterday is gone. Now the skin is pink and smooth. Yesterday touching or moving my hand in any way would bring intense pain but now it doesn't hurt at all.

I turn to Cody who's over by the fire heating up some canned ravioli for breakfast and say, "Um, Cody?"

He looks up from the fire and says, "Yeah, what's up?"

I hold up my hand and say, "It…. healed. Overnight."

"What?" he says, abandoning the food and walking over to me with a confused look on his face. He takes my hand and examines it, handling it with so much care that you could believe it would fall apart at the slightest movement.

"Jake, come over here," Cody says. Jake comes over from sitting by the stream. "Do you still have that burn?" Cody asks him.

"Yeah," Jake answers and pulls up his pant leg to show us a burn the size of a baseball. It barely looks better than when he first got it.

"This is _impossible_," I say in disbelief. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Cody says in a distant voice. "I thought maybe it had something to do with the medicine but…"

I shake my head, let my hand drop to my side and say, "I guess standing here staring at it won't do anything. Let's just be happy it's healed."

Cody nods and goes back over to the fire to take the food off. We all eat then we put the fire out and pack our things and head out.

We walk in silence. Cody in the front leading the way, Jake walking next to Lightning in the middle, then me bringing up the rear. We take few breaks. At noon we stop for lunch, and then continue on. By two o'clock my feet are sore and I'm exhausted but I keep going, knowing that stopping would be wasting time.

"One more mile," Cody says.

This makes my heart race. I'm so nervous I feel like I'm going to fall apart.

Suddenly I hear a gun shot, Jake falls to the ground and Lightning bolts into the trees.

"Jake!" I yell. I run up to him and see something that looks like a syringe sticking out of his neck. The blood drains from my face when I see that it looks just like the one that I was poisoned with. I take it out and put my fingers to his neck checking for a pulse. It's there and it seems strong. Then I look at the dart again and realize that it's just a tranquilizer.

"Cody what do we do?" I ask in a panic, because I know what this means. It means they've found us. I look up at him to see he has his gun out.

And it's pointed at my head.

* * *

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	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The second I see the gun pointed at me I am filled with a feeling of dread.

"Cody, what are you doing?" I ask in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Zoe," he says in a shaky voice. "I had no other choice."

Suddenly I am surrounded by people holding guns, all pointed at me. Then a man comes out of the trees. He's tall with dark eyes that almost look black and he wears a blue military uniform with a five stars arranged in a circle pinned to his chest. There's also a name stitched into his shirt that says Trulli.

He walks over to Cody with a proud smile on his face and says in a very low voice, "Nice job, son."

_Son? _I think. This is Cody's father? I look from him to Cody trying to see the similarities but I see none. They look nothing alike. But yet they have the same last name and he called Cody son.

He turns to me, still smiling, and says, "I've waited so long for this day, Ms. McLachlan. My name is General Marshall Trulli and of course you know my son."

I look to Cody with accusing eyes, but he refuses to meet my glare. He has dropped the gun to his side and is very intently staring at his feet. Then I look down at Jake who is still lying unconscious at my feet.

"What did you do to him," I ask, my voice surprising me at how steady it is.

"Oh, don't worry about him," General Trulli says. "He'll be fine. We just had to get him out of the way so you couldn't escape."

"Why are you doing this?" I ask him in an angry voice.

General Trulli looks at me with hard eyes and says, "Let me start from the beginning. About eighteen years ago our scientists discovered something called the Green Serum. It gave whoever it was injected into special… abilities. The first humans we tested it on were adults. It gave them these abilities but there were too many side effects so we tried it on a newborn child."

I give him a disgusted look. How could they experiment on babies? That's horrible.

"It worked on the babies," he continues. "They got these abilities as they got older and there weren't any side effects. At this time the Dominion was crushing us and we were at the point of defeat, but then we decided to make a new army. One that could destroy the Dominion. We injected the Green Serum into most of the newborn babies in every Sector without the parents knowing and let them live their lives until they turned sixteen. That's when they started developing their abilities. That's when we started… recruiting them. We—"

"You didn't recruit them you kidnapped them!" I shout at him. "You didn't let them make the decision. You took them against their will. You—"

"We did what we had to do to win!" he yells back at me. Then in a calmer voice he continues, "After we took them we trained them how to use their abilities. We have created an army. But there still one more thing we need. And that's you, Zoe."

"Why me?" I ask. "What's so special about me?"

"After we discovered that the Green Serum worked we kept experimenting with it," he says. "Soon we discovered the Blue Serum. It was more powerful than the Green Serum but there was a problem. It would only work on people who have the blood type HH, which is the rarest blood type in the world. You and your brother have HH blood. So we injected the Blue Serum into you. They did not inject it into your brother because the chemicals in it are so hard to get that we were only able to make one vial of it." He pauses to let me take it all in.

I feel lightheaded. Why would they do this? To defeat the Dominion? I feel like there's more to it than just winning the war. I think they want power.

"How do you expect me to fight for you after everything you've done to me and my family?" I ask, my anger evident in my voice.

"Oh, we have our ways," he says.

This just confuses me more but I don't ask what he means. I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's not going to explain any further.

"The reason we need you," he continues, "is because the Dominion has found something that can hold the Green Serum at bay when our soldiers try to use their powers. But with the Blue Serum it doesn't work on you. That's why we need you to help us win this war." He pauses and takes a deep breath then says, "Well I think that's enough chit chat for today, don't you think? Let's get you ready for the Erasing."

"Wait! What's the Erasing?" I ask, but no one answers me. Instead two of the soldiers handcuff my hands and hold on to my elbows with iron grips as they start pulling me forward.

I look to Cody with pleading eyes but he just gives me a sad look.

"I trusted you!" I yell at him as the two soldiers who handcuffed me drag me past him. "I _trusted _you!"

He doesn't respond. Instead he watches as the soldiers take me away and as I look back at him with hateful eyes I swear I see a tear run down his cheek.

**†**

I'm pushed into one of many cars on a road that I didn't know we were so close to. A young man with dark hair climbs in behind me holding a gun in his lap. He looks at me with an almost innocent look but I know he's in no way innocent. Not when he's helping these people kidnap people.

I feel the engine of the car start and look out the window to catch a glimpse of Cody being pushed into another car with his hands handcuffed.

This confuses me. Why would they handcuff him like a criminal if he's the general's son? Why would they do this if he helped capture me? And that just makes me wonder why they would put on this whole charade with Cody when they could have just taken me like they did Blake and Molly.

But nothing is making sense at the moment. Nothing seems real anymore. It all just feels like one bad dream that keeps getting worse.

**†**

After what feels like hours of being in that stuffy car with that creepy soldiers staring at me, the car finally stops and I am forcefully pulled out of the car.

I look around and see that they have taken me to some sort of military base. It is a big concrete building with large towers around it, all with soldiers with guns posted at the top. There is a large chain link fence with barbed wire at the top and there are more soldiers standing guard at the fence.

The soldier who was sitting next to me in the car grabs my elbow with such a strong grip that I know I will have a bruise there. He drags me past the soldiers guarding the fence, who don't even move an inch as we pass, and he leads me into the concrete building.

The inside of the building is dull and boring with no decorations on the grey walls and not a single window. There are soldiers with guns in their hands positioned in front of a few doors.

There are a lot of people walking around. Some are wearing suits and carrying briefcases or papers and some people are dressed in uniforms similar to the one the soldiers leading me are wear.

When we pass a few of the soldiers I realize that they aren't adults. They're teenagers, all around my age. They're all laughing and joking around but when they see me they all stop laughing and start whispering to each other.

"Is that the girl they were looking for?" I hear one of them whisper.

"I thought they said she was sixteen. She looks twelve." Another one says.

"I hear she's extremely powerful."

"That can't be true, she looks totally weak."

That's all I hear before I am out of hearing range from them.

Soon I'm pulled through a door marked THE ERASER with two soldiers guarding it.

The room is all white. The floor, the wall, the ceiling. Everything. There's a table in the middle of the room with a large, menacing looking machine hovering over it.

The two soldiers direct me to the table and shove me down making me lie down on it. They take the handcuffs off my wrists and immediately strap my hands and feet to the table. I try to struggle, to get away from them but they are too strong and easily over power me.

When they finish strapping me to the table they leave the room. When the door closes behind them I immediately try slipping my hands out of the straps but they are too tight around my wrists and I can't get my hands out.

After about five minutes of struggling against the restraints, the door opens and a small group of people walk in. The first person who comes in is a man in a white coat on and a clip board in hand. A doctor.

There are two women behind him, both wearing scrubs, obviously nurses.

The doctor looks up from his clipboard and gives me a kind smile. Instead of returning the smile, I glare at him with all the hate I can muster, which is a lot.

"Hello, Zoe," he says in a kind voice. "My name is Dr. Asher. Now me and my assistants a here to administer The Erasing to you."

"What's The Erasing?" I ask, not sure if I really want to know.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Dr. Asher says. "In an hour you won't even remember you were here."

Before he can ask what he means by that he turns away from me and walks to a counter on the other side of the room that I didn't realize was there. The two nurses are next to my table attaching wires to my temples.

Dr. Asher comes back over with a large syringe and needle in hand. The syringe has some kind of clear liquid in it. I flinch as one of the nurses uses a cotton ball with something on it to clean a small spot on my neck.

"Don't be afraid," the doctors says as he pushes the needle into my neck and injects the contents of the syringe into my blood stream.

But that's the thing that's been keeping me going ever since Cody pulled that gun on me. I'm not afraid.

I'm angry.

"Go to hell, you bastard," I say in the harshest voice I can summon.

Dr. Asher's face hardens into a scowl as he says, "Start it up."

And then I'm screaming at him. I'm screaming every profanity I can think of at him until my eyes close and I fall into darkness.

* * *

**What do you think The Eraser does? Tell me in a review!**

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey everyone! Sorry it took me sooooooo long to get this chapter out but if you saw my previous AN you know why. This chapter is short and I'm really sorry about that but since there is a lot of new things coming into the story I don't want to overwhelm you guys with all the new info. **

* * *

**Chapter 19**

I see memories. Memories racing through my mind. Memories that do not belong to me, yet I am in every one of them. Doing things that I have never done before. Like shooting a gun, growing up in a military base, eating in a crowded cafeteria every day for every meal.

I see Blake in most of them. We're training together. Training to be soldiers.

There are also memories that I can't comprehend what's happening. I see my hands, outstretched in from of me and I'm concentrating. Sometimes I see water. Other times I see fire, or the earth. I can feel the air.

And they are all bending at my will. Doing things that I tell them to do in my mind.

The water and fire fly. The ground splits at my feet and shakes. And the air becomes stronger, blows harder. Sometimes I see a raging storm in the sky. Lightning flashing. Thunder booming.

But through all this I see _my_ memories. The real ones.

I see my life back in Sector Two. Me and Blake climbing trees together. I see my parents laughing at a joke Blake told them. I see Molly and Lightning. I also see Jake. And Cody.

There's an intense pain as all of these images flash through my head. The fake ones try pushing the real ones out but I fight it. I refuse to forget them. I refuse to believe those memories are real.

I hear someone screaming in the distance. I also hear other voices shouting. It sounds like their shouting at each other. Those voices are pulling me back. Pulling me back to the present.

My eyes snap open and I see the machine over me. It's making a loud crunching noise and moving in on itself. Almost like it's collapsing.

I hear the screaming and the shouting voices still and realize I'm the one screaming.

There's an intense pain in my head and Dr. Asher and the nurses are running around in a panic. Trying to get the machine to shut down.

"Shut it down!" Dr. Asher yells at one of the nurses.

"It is shut down!" the nurse yells back. "She's doing this!"

"Then get a sedative!" Dr. Asher shouts. "She's destroying it!"

Suddenly the machine explodes, throwing pieces of sharp metal and wires everywhere. Luckily nothing hits me but I can't say the same for the others. Dr. Asher and one of the nurses both get hit in the head by large chunks of metal and fall to the floor in unconscious heaps. The other nurse gets buried by the biggest piece of metal.

Suddenly the strap on my right hand loosens and I am able to pull my hand out and free my other and hand feet. I get up and run out the door not thinking about all of the soldiers out there.

I run as fast as I can past the two soldiers guarding the door and make a break for the door out of this place. But I don't make it. A soldier tackles me to the ground and I hit my head on the ground and everything goes black.

* * *

I wake up on a hard, uncomfortable bed with a thin sheet laying underneath me. I am aware of a dull throbbing in my head. I go to touch where it hurts and I feel a small bump.

I sit up slowly and am instantly aware of someone on the other side of the room.

She's young. Maybe thirteen or fourteen. She sits on another bed hugging her knees to her chest. Her brown hair is a mess, tangled and unkempt. She stares at me with big curious blue eyes that look extremely familiar for some reason.

I look around to see that we are in a small room. Then I stand up my muscles aching and walk over to the door and see that there's no handle. I walk back over to the bed I woke up on and sit down, frustrated with myself.

I cannot believe how stupid I was. I knew I shouldn't have trusted Cody. I'm such an idiot.

Suddenly the door swings open and a boy is pushed in. The door quickly slams shut once he's in here.

The girl that was on the other bed jumps up and runs to the boy. They hug each other and I hear the girl sob.

After a while they break their hug and the boy turns so that I can see his face. When I see his face I stand and walk to him. He's about to say something when I get to him but before he can, I shove him against the wall and jam my forearm into his throat cutting off his air.

"You bastard, I trusted you!" I yell at Cody. "_Jake _trusted you!"

"Stop! You're hurting him!" the girl yells at me.

I quickly look at her then back at Cody whose face is starting to turn blue. I release him and he falls to the floor gasping and coughing. The girl kneels down next to him and asks if he is ok.

He gives her a thumbs up and then she turns to me and says, "What the hell is your problem?"

I don't answer her; I just stand there watching Cody try to catch his breath. After a while he stands up and says, "Zoe, you have to understand that—"

"That what, Cody?" I say, angrily. "That you lied to me? That you lied to Jake? Because I understand that you did that. I just don't understand why."

"They had my sister, Zoe!" he almost shouts, gesturing towards the girl. "They threatened to kill her! What was I supposed to do? Let her die? You of all people should know how hard it was for me to leave her here."

This makes me take a step back because he's right. I do know what it's like to leave someone you love behind, to not know what's going to happen to them. Leaving Blake behind was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.

But there are still so many things that don't make sense.

"But what about your dad?" I ask him. "He wouldn't do that to his own daughter, would he?"

"That man is _not_ my father," he says angrily. "Well, technically he is, but I do _not _consider him to be. Not after what he has done to me and my sister."

"Why did they go through all of that trouble to get me here when they could have just taken me like they did the others?" I ask him.

"Because they didn't know if you knew how to use your powers or not so they sent me," he says. "They sent me because I am the only one that can control you if you try to escape."

"What do you mean you can control me?" I ask him confused.

"I was injected with the Green Serum when I was born," he says. " I have the ability to tap into other people's minds. I can mess with their minds and make them think that they're in pain or I can make them fall unconscious. That's why they sent me. Because if you started acting out or couldn't control your powers I could just knock you out

"Ok… so why didn't you do that to Jake instead of tranquilizing him when you… handed us over?" I ask almost faltering on the reality of my last words.

"Because it takes a lot of energy to do it and if I did it to him first I wouldn't have any energy to use it on you if need be," he explains.

"Wait," I say, still wanting to ask so many questions. "What can I do that makes me so powerful?"

"Well, what I heard is that you can control the elements. Air, earth, water and fire. With enough training and practice you will be able to create storms. Like thunderstorms, tornadoes, earthquakes and even hurricanes. I heard that you could also erupt volcanoes and sink an island." He explains to me.

I don't react or say anything I just blink at him and try to comprehend what he said. How is that possible? Earthquakes and hurricanes? Sink islands? I'm just a small girl from Sector 2. How can I be capable of so much?

"Zoe," he says gently laying his hands on my shoulders. I wish I could move away but I'm frozen trying to think about what he said. "Zoe, you have the potential to destroy the world."

* * *

**Again I am sorry about the shortness. **

**Now I have something to talk to you about. **

**So recently xxfluffedxx PMed me and told me about a SYOT that they are participating in. I also submitted to it and I submitted Zoe. They are in a really huge need of more authors to participate so please look into it. If any of you are interested in participating please PM me and I will send you the details.**

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

I don't respond to his words. I just blankly stare at him trying to comprehend what he just said.

When the words finally sink in I take a step back from him letting his hands limply fall to his sides and say in a skeptical voice, "You're lying! I can't do that!"

"Zoe, you saw what you did with the water!" he says stepping closer to me.

I take a step back not wanting him any closer to me. Even though he apologized and explained why he turned me over to them I still haven't forgiven him.

"That doesn't prove that I can _destroy the world!_" I yell at him. "Where did you hear this information from? Your father? That man is nothing but a lying asshole!" I'm full out screaming at him now.

Cody doesn't say anything after that. He just stares at me with a shocked face and I stare back, daring him to say something else.

After a while he opens his mouth to say something and I swear I will punch him if he mentions my _ability to destroy the world_.

But before he says anything the girl –Andy— says, "Cody, stop. You're throwing everything at her at once and you're making her panic. Let her take everything in before you say something else."

Cody turns to her and says in a hushed voice, "You don't know her like I do, Andy. She's strong, she can handle it."

"Have you even been looking at her, Cody?" Andy says in an angry, hushed voice. "She's clearly panicking and you need to stop before you freak her out more!"

While they argue I stand there awkwardly, wanting to tell them that I can hear everything they are saying about me but after a couple more exchanges Andy wins the argument and Cody goes to sit on the bed. Andy looks at me with an apologetic smile and goes to sit next to her brother.

I stay where I am, thinking about everything he said.

He's right of course. I do have powers. I wouldn't say I had the power to destroy the world. That's just crazy. But I do know that I have powers. No matter how much I want to deny it.

There are still so many questions that I need answered before I can comprehend what's going on. But there's one in particular that I need to know before all of the rest.

"What about them?" I ask in a quiet voice, knowing he will know what I mean by _them_. "Do you know if they're alive?"

Andy looks at me confused and Cody lifts his head and says with a frown on his face, "Honestly I have no idea. If The Eraser worked on them they are probably training with the others. But if it didn't work then they're probably dead."

At his words I suck in a breath and try to keep myself for screaming.

I collapse on the bed I woke up on when what Cody said sinks in. I always knew that there was a possibility that they were dead but I always pushed that thought away not wanting to think it was true. But now that I hear Cody say it out loud I know that it is true. That Blake and Molly could be dead.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Andy slap Cody on the side of the head and give him an angry look and Cody says something to her but I don't hear him. In fact I don't hear anything but a ringing in my ear.

I bring my knees up to my chest and rest my head on them. Soon I feel tears in my eyes and a sob creeps its way into my throat. I try to hold it back but it comes out with all of the tears I have been refusing to let flow since I left home.

I cry for what feels like hours but is probably only a couple of minutes before I feel someone sit down next to me and put their arm over my heaving shoulders.

I look up and see that it's Cody and I immediately push his arm off my shoulders and stand up.

"Don't touch me!" I scream at him. "Don't ever touch me again! And don't think that I have forgiven you for what you have done to me!"

Cody looks up at me with a shocked face and then he looks confused. He gets up and walks closer to me and bends down to look into my eyes. I try to push him away but he grabs my wrists in a tight hold and keeps looking into my eyes.

"Get away from me!" I say angrily trying to get him to let go of my wrists.

"Zoe," he says in a whisper. "Your eyes."

I stop struggling and stare at him, confused. Then I ask suspiciously, "What about my eyes?"

"Your irises," he says in a shocked voice. "They're… turning white."

I put my hand up and touch the skin under my eye. Then I look around for anything that I can see my reflection in and see a shiny piece of metal on the door that I assume is used to push food and water into the room. I go over to it and look at my distorted reflection in the small piece of metal. I gasp and look closer only to realize that Cody was right my irises are white. They blend into the other part of my eye so it looks like I don't have any irises and just black pupils.

"Um… Guys?" I hear Andy say.

Cody and I both turn to her and see that there are little white pieces of paper falling from the ceiling. _Paper?_ I think. _Why would paper be falling from the ceiling?_

But then I hold out my hand to catch one and when it lands on my hand it melts into water and I realize that it's not paper, it's _snow_. And it's not falling from the ceiling it's falling from a small grey cloud that's looming over our heads.

I look at Cody trying to figure out what's going on and he just looks at me with a smile on his face. Then he says, "I told you that you could do this. Don't look at me like you have no idea what's going on."

I give him a small smile back, but it quickly disappears when the door opens and a few guards come in.

"You two," one of the guards says, pointing to me and Cody. "Come with us. General Trulli would like to speak with you."

Cody moves towards the guards with a frown on his face but I don't move. I just stand the like an idiot and the guard that spoke earlier yells at me to move.

I still don't move. Instead I glare at the guards and say, "I'm not going anywhere until I see my brother."

"Zoe, stop!" Cody says in a serious, warning voice.

"No," I say in an angry voice. "I want to see my brother! I want to know he's alright!"

Suddenly it stops snowing and starts raining and the clouds turn a dangerous color of dark grey. The pressure in the room drops and a strong gust of wind rolls through the cell.

The guards come towards me and grab my arms but I struggle to get away from them. As I try to get out of their grasp one of them gets angry with me and hits me in the face. I fall to the ground my hands going up to my now bleeding lip.

Cody runs forward with surprising speed and stands between me and the guards.

"Don't touch her!" he says in a low, threatening voice.

The guards, ignoring what Cody said, move forward and one grabs Cody while the other two forcefully grab my arms and yank me to my feet.

"Get off of me!" I angrily say, trying to get the guards to let me go.

But they don't listen. Instead they drag Cody and me out of the cell and slam the door shut behind us before walking us down a dimly lit hallway with many numbered doors on each side.

We are led down many other hallways that look just like it and make too many turns to count before the guards lead us into a room where a man sits behind a metal table with a tablet of some sort in front of him.

The man turns and I see the cold blue eyes of General Trulli.

He watches us as the guards lead us over to the table and forcefully push us into chairs facing opposite General Trulli.

The room is silent other than the shuffle of the guards' feet and the click of the door as they exit the room.

"Well, Ms. McLachlan," General Trulli says with a smile would make him seem like a nice and happy man if I didn't know how evil he was. "It seems as if you have settled down pretty well here. And it seems my son here has explained quite a bit to you."

I don't say anything in reply I just glare at him with hate.

After realizing I'm not going to respond his smile fades into a frown and he says in a serious voice, "Why don't we get right to the point. Tomorrow you will begin training. I will have a trainer teaching you how to use your powers, how to fight with them and how to fight without them. This is all in preparation for the war. And since you are our most powerful weapon you will need training."

"No," I say in a quiet voice.

"What did you just say to me?" he says in a dangerously low voice.

"I said no," I say with anger in my voice. "I will _never_ fight for someone like you. You are a lying bastard who thinks he needs to rule the world!"

"Zoe. Stop!" Cody says with something almost like panic in his voice.

"No! I will not stop!" I yell, quickly standing up, the chair flying out behind me. "I don't want to fight for him! I don't care what he does! There is no way I am helping him with anything!"

General Trulli smiles again and says in an amused voice, "I figured you'd say something like that. That's why I needed your brother."

I tense at them mention of Blake. Whatever he's going to say it can't be good.

"I know how much you care about him," he continues, "and I know that you would do anything to protect him. So, I will make a deal with you." He leans forward resting his elbows on the table and entwining his fingers together. "If you cooperate and do everything I tell you your brother will be safe and will not be harmed. But, if you do not cooperate and you don't do what I tell you at any time your brother will be killed."

My heart sinks at his words. He threatened Blake. He threatened to _kill _Blake! What am I supposed to do? I can't let them kill him and I can't fight for them. Not after what they have done to so many innocent lives.

I sink back down into the chair, my hands falling in my lap. I can't bring myself to meet General Trulli's eyes so I stare at my feet, tears threatening to spill onto my face.

I take a deep, shaky breath before saying in a whisper, "Ok, I will. I'll do what you say. Just… _please_… don't hurt my brother."

* * *

**Ok so there's another chapter! I hope you liked it and please tell me what you think in a review!**

**SYOT!**

**DONT FORGET TO PM ME ABOUT THE SYOT IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING! IT'S FOR DIVERGENT AND HUNGER GAMES! IT WILL BE EXTREMELY FUN! I REALLY HOPE TO SEE YOU PARTICIPATING WITH ALL OF US!**

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	21. IMPORTANT NOTE

**SORRY FANFICTION IS MESSING WITH ME! THIS IS LIKE THE TWENTIETH TIME I'VE TRIED TO WRITE THIS AN!**

**So I messed up when I was trying to explain Cody's powers he said: "I have the ability to make people fall unconscious. So that's why they sent me. If you started acting out I could just make you fall asleep."**

**What I wanted him to say was: "I have the ability to tap into other people's minds. I can mess with their minds and make them think that they're in pain or I can make them fall unconscious. That's why they sent me. Because if you started acting out or couldn't control your powers I could just knock you out. "**

**Sorry if this confused you but I didn't want to make you guys go back a find the one paragraph where he explained it. I thought it would be easier for you this way.**

**Thanks!**

**llamasrock192**

**=D**


	22. Hiatus

**Ok so I know this is the second authors note in a row but I wanted you guys to know that I will not be updating for a while.**

**I need to figure out where I'm going with this story and slow down before I get ahead of myself and mess up the entire story. I will be reading over the story, making sure I have everything in it that I need to continue and I will start an outline of the story. I'm really sorry but I feel like I have just been winging it when I write and that's not working that well for me so I will not be updating for I don't know how long it just depends on how fast I can do this. And trust me I want it update soon but I also want to make the story enjoyable and easy to follow.**

**Thank you all for the support you have given me to continue this story! If it wasn't for you I probably would have given up on it a long time ago! Thank you soooo much for all of the encouraging reviews! They always make my day when I get them!**

**Thanks!**

**AJ (still the same person just different nickname)**

**=D**


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